


Chats Between Sisters

by AhmedMootaz



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Cousins, Fluff, Gen, Not too much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 108,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AhmedMootaz/pseuds/AhmedMootaz
Summary: After spending a few months in complete boredom, Marie was overjoyed with Callie's return from her many trips. However, desperate to not repeat the mistakes of the past, she decides to spend more time with Callie and return their relationship to the unshakable bond that it was.Many laughs, tears, and hugs are to be had. Also DJ Octavio suplexes several pizza boxes.





	1. Chapter 1

Marie considered herself a lucky squid; how many could say that their best friend is both their workmate _and_ cousin? Indeed, Callie, Marie's best friend, was one of the sweetest, most enthusiastic and most cheerful people she had ever known, in fact, she was was one of the few she had known, as Marie was never much of a social squid, unlike Callie. The amount of differences they had was astounding for people who were so close, but nevertheless the two remained together for almost their entire lives, and Marie couldn't have imagined a life where her cheerful and energetic partner didn't exist.

It is for these very reasons Marie was horrified when she realized Callie was squidnapped.

Sure, they had drifted apart after the infamous last Splatfest, but they simply didn't have time to chat with each other anymore; Marie had her own show and Callie travelled the globe to perform and star in many different shows and concerts, but Marie never gave those issues much attention, she always thought that a few days later they'd both reunite and have fun just like the old days: they'd write a new song that would make their fans go wild, spend a day together in their apartment lazying about and generally having fun, that they'd go to the Arowana Mall together, or play a game of Turf War...

Unfortunately, that day never came, and over the time Marie started feeling as if the two of them were separating, and the thought frightened her, yes, there were times when she and her cousin would snark at each other, or maybe spend a day being mad at each other because of a Splatfest, but those things would usually finish with both of them sharing a hug and having a bonding session by the end of the day, but even after spending an entire day with her Idol-partner, she realized that she didn't know how well she was doing, or if she was thinking about something, or if she wanted to spend more time with her... The last time the two had seen each other was on the Inkopolis Train Station, with Callie bidding farewell to her and promising to join her in The Calamari County after she finishes filming another episode of a show she starred in.

But Callie was late, and she didn't answer her phone, and so Marie made an urgent return to see her cousin, only to discover that she was nowhere to be found and that DJ Octavio, the leader of the Octarians, had broken out of his snow globe, and she didn't need much time to put the two and two together. She panicked at first; her grandfather, Cap'n Cuttelfish, was on an expedition with the newest member of the Octarian fighting squad, The New Squidbeak Splatoon, Agent 3, and as far as she knew he couldn't have been planning to return anytime soon, besides, he barely knew how to use his phone, and Marie simply didn't want to make him panic, so she took matters into her own hands and decided that she'd find Callie and make Octavio pay herself.

Finding a recruit wasn't difficult, a young inkling girl who Marie referred to as Agent 4 had stumbled into the outpost Marie setup to keep watch over the Octarians and agreed to help her find her cousin. For just over a month, Agent 4 kept infiltrating another Octarian stronghold, The Octo Canyon, with each day Marie's worry growing more and more, alongside her wish to recover Callie, but when they found her, she had nothing but terror left in her.

Callie had been brainwashed by Octavio, given an all-Octarian attire and was ordered to fight Agent 4 as she dodged both her and the Octarian leader's attacks and puns, but after a long and, from Marie's viewpoint, life threatening battle, they had removed the Hypnoshades that Octavio had made Callie wear, and after she reunited with Callie, she made sure she'd accomplish her second task: Making Octavio **pay**. That last part was actually easier than expected, even with the help of Agent 4 and a "borrowed" Rainmaker, she almost felt as if Octavio had given up, but after the dust was settled, Octavio returned to his snowglobe, and The Squid Sisters were back!

...Or at least, Marie certainly hoped things would be that way.

The two of them made two new songs after being reunited, although admittedly they used one of Octavio's remixes for of them (what can you do when an Octopus has such fresh beats? Evil or not, he had talent), and they had a small, yet fruitful chat with one another. But much to Marie's dismay, Callie had to leave suddenly, she couldn't blame her, after all, an Idol disappearing for over a month is something that the press would be getting splatted to cover, and if it wasn't for some of Marie's meddling here and there, the news would have spread across Inkopolis in no time, so when Callie came to her senses, she could only stay for about three days with Marie before returning to her usual work schedule to explain that what happened was nothing more than a big misunderstanding, she came up with this big, dramatic story about how she was lost in the Arowana Mall for an entire month before finding her way out, and hoped that people would buy it. Marie chuckled at the idea of Callie, who knew every store in The Mall like she knew Marie, would get lost in it, but they came up with stranger stories during their time as Inkopolis News hosts and people believed them, so why not?

\---

A few months had passed with Callie unable to come back to see her cousin, and Marie certainly wasn't pleased with it, these few months were very still, with almost nothing new to be done. Well, there was an exception; Callie had returned for a weekend, but she put on those splatted Hypnoshades again because "They made her look fresh", after freeing a confused Octavio from his snowglobe, Marie and a flabbergasted Agent 4 had managed to shoot those Hypnoshades away from Callie eyes for a second time, but it took all of the weekend that Marie was hoping to spend with Callie, which left her furious, to the point where she kicked Octavio's globe a few times after Callie left to catch her plane, leaving the already confused Octavio startled. Not to mention, the entire ordeal made Agent 4 spend a few weeks making jokes about the subject.

Other than that, Marie had absolutely nothing to do. She couldn't let Octavio out of her sight, that would leave him free to do what he pleases, as such, she stayed in the outpost for most of her time, and after a while she had decided to get some furniture from the apartment she and Callie had rented, because sleeping on a wooden couch was starting to severely hurt her sleep schedule, and she needed that beauty sleep.

Things didn't turn out to be that simple, because during her search for Callie and stay in the outpost, she had completely forgotten to pay the rent, and logically, she was kicked out of the apartment, alongside her furniture, which was now waiting in the basement of the old building, so Marie had decided to move the stuff to her outpost, her reasoning was that if she had to spend a few months staring at an Octarian leader that tried squidnapping her best friend, then at least she should be comfortable while doing it. Moving the furniture was no easy task; she couldn't call a moving company to move The Squid Sisters' belongings into a small isolated place that has an Ocatrian locked inside of a snowglobe and a barrage of modified ink-weaponry, and Agent 4 was nowhere to be found, so Marie had to, essentially, move an apartment by herself.

As one would expect, it was a very tiresome process, mostly because she did it during the darkest hours of the night, as Callie had made it a mission to make almost every single one of their personal things scream "We are the Squid Sisters!", by the time she moved two thirds of the stuff, she had spent two weeks, _ruined_ her sleep schedule and had a nearly broken back, she started debating whether or not releasing Octavio to move the furniture was worth the potential risk when Agent 4 showed up all of a sudden. Apparently, she was stuck working for a new company that floated into public vision suddenly called "Grizzco Industries", she had told Marie about massive monstrosities called Salmonides that have units for just about everything, about these "eggs" which they must collect for the company's leader, Mr.Grizz, to haul them out, and while Marie was certainly interested in the aspect, she could only register the fact that Agent 4 had left her for an entire week to work on hunting eggs, which she didn't appreciate very much.

After the moving part was done, Marie was more than willing to listen to Agent 4's stories; they gave her a view on how Inkopolis had changed during the time where she stayed with Octavio, and while she now had her electronics back with her, it was nice to see another living being that isn't an enormous, purple octopus who stares blankly at you. Still, after Agent 4 left, Marie could only think about how much she wanted to see these new things with Callie, she was simply splatting to see how Callie would handle a horde, but these thoughts didn't exactly help her situation, so Marie decided to spend the rest of the day putting the newly-moved furniture into appropriate spots.

Another while had passed, and with it, another wave of boredom to overcome Marie, while the furniture definitely made the place more comfy, Marie still had nothing to do, and she desperately wanted to chat with someone, as Agent 4 was now busy and her visits had become far and few, it didn't help that she'd usually greet a chair or couch that Callie used to sit on for most of her time unintentionally, and she started reconsidering the idea of putting her bed next to Callie's, as she now started to talk to the bed for five minutes as if Callie was on it at least once a day before realizing that she was talking to the thin air, and probably making Octavio snicker a bit behind her back. For now, she had to suffice with cleaning the place and listening to the last song she and Callie sang together: Fresh Start.

She loved that song, Callie had first came up with the idea of making one after a day of being rescued, and she seemed so excited and happy about the idea that Marie just had to say yes, besides, that excitement reminded her of the same excitement that gushes over Callie when she was especially happy about something, and she would've done anything to maintain her cousin's cheerful spirit after the chaos with Octavio. The song itself was, in Marie's eyes, one of their best works; they had merged both of their solos in one song and then they just let themselves go along the flow of the music, so to speak, and the result was something truly special, to the point where Marie was almost certain she listened to it two to three times per day (both because she loved it and as a result of having nothing to do), and even more certain that Octavio had memorized the lyrics better than he memorizes how his right tentacle looked like, whether he liked it or not, she didn't truly care, what she cared about is that she loved both the lyrics and the rhythm. The song wasn't as fast and energetic as the songs that were mostly composed by Callie, such as Ink Me Up, nor was it calm and relaxing such as the songs mostly composed by Marie, like Maritime Memory, rather, it was both energetic and relaxing, merging both tastes of the Idols, something that Marie truly loved. In her opinion, there was one word that could truly describe the song: Fresh. She chuckled internally at her pun and started missing Callie, who would've had a field day seeing her partner finally make a pun in her life. Oh how infectious these things were.

While that boredom lasted a while, there _was_ something that had happened, it was... strange? scary? intriguing? She didn't quite know how to approach the matter. It happened quite abruptly, too.

It was a regular morning, or, well, due to Marie's sleeping habits, a regular noon when she woke up and, as per usual, greeted Callie's bed.

-"Good morning, Callie" she said in between yawns while slowly taking awareness of her surroundings. This part was mostly normal, as she had grown used to the fact that she'd greet an invisible Callie, and imagining her responses to the various things she'd say gave her comfort. What was not usual, was that she got a response.

-"G'morning"

Marie nearly jumped out of her bed, if it wasn't for the fact that she usually pinned her bed covers to the sides of her bed, she might have as well fallen, she struggled to try and get out of her bed while attempting to analyze the thoughts that were going through her brain. It couldn't have been Callie or Agent 4, as the voice that greeted her was most certainly masculine, so her eyes darted around the place while she was still fighting against the covers, she had a faint hope that Cap'n Cuttelfish might've returned from his expedition, but that hope was quickly dashed as there was no sign of her grandfather in the outpost. In fact, there wasn't anyone, well, besides Octavio.

 _Wait_ , she thought, had Octavio truly greeted her? She never had much of an interaction with the purple Invertebrate, she simply insured that he does not starve or dehydrate to death, and, frankly speaking, she secretly thanked him because he gave her some motivation to cook the already simple meals she prepared for both of them, as her cousin was the one who was passionate about cooking, she also cheered Marie whenever she tried to cook, as her first attempts were, to put it nicely, messy, so without anyone beside her, Marie had lost motivation for cooking, and without the responsibility of Octavio, she might've simply bought some canned meals during her stay, but the last time she contacted her grandfather, he had strictly instructed her to not give the octopus anything other than fresh food, she didn't know why, but she didn't object, either.

Her focus snapped back to Octavio when he started tapping the glass of his globe with one of his tentacles with a nervous look on his face, almost as if he was asking if something was wrong. She simply looked at him blankly for while, having no idea on what to do before she concluded that giving him a small, if clumsy and obviously unsure wave from her bed would to the trick. As she changed into her "Temporary Captain" clothing, as Callie put it, which was composed of a plain grey kimono with a green umbrella to protect her from any rain and, most importantly, ink, she started wondering if the loneliness made her start hallucinating; Octavio was never a talkative person, as far as she knew, and even when her grandfather was with him, he only spoke to declare his needs, downright ignoring any attempt to spark a conversation and growling if interrogated.

But as the day moved on, she became sure that she wasn't hallucinating, she definitely heard him thanking her once or twice for the food, he waved at her once and even complemented his dinner with a "Delicious", but while Marie was begging for someone to chat with the last few weeks, she didn't think that she'd have a calm conversation with the kidnapper of her best friend, nevermind him being a, if not **the** , leader of The Octarian Menace. Still, she wanted an opinion on the matter, but neither Callie nor her grandfather answered her calls, while she understood that Callie had a busy schedule, she was more than worried about her gramps not picking up, but he had Agent 3 by his side, so she tried to not worry too much.

At the end of the day, she sat down on her bed, with mostly nothing to do, as per usual, so she picked up her small tablet and surfed the Inkternet, it seemed the world was mostly at peace, Inklings were going to wage turf war over whether pulp in orange juice was delicious or not, just the normal stuff. It slightly hurt her to not have Callie pick a side and then bet on who's going to win or not, as while their arguments got heated sometimes, it was still all in the name of good fun.

She thought about that last sentence for a minute. They never truly argued together or upset one another, did they? Her mind drifted back to the Naught vs Nice Splatfest, while she did get Callie back at the end, she was really caught off guard with Callie's point at the beginning. She and Callie had accepted occasionally poking fun at each other as being a part of their lives, but she never thought that Callie would view her as selfish, a sore winner or uncaring. This was something she had wanted to ask Callie about, but she never had the time, and the question of whether or not she was as caring as she thought herself to be always floated in the back of her mind with no satisfying answer, since Callie couldn't simply say these things in a phone call, as Marie always thought that these conversations must be said face-to-face to get an honest answer.

She snapped back to reality when she heard Octavio sneezing inside his globe, how the globe didn't shatter into a thousand different pieces from his regular, huge sneezes beat her, but she decided that the idea of striking a small chat with him could help her figure out if the Octarians were planning anything in the future and, better yet, it would give her something to do.

She thought about changing her clothes simply because she had grown bored of switching between her "Temporary Captain" clothing and her performance clothes, and even then she only wore those when the other outfit was in the laundry.

 _Oh, right_ , she muttered, the laundry was something she hadn't done in a while, and, much to her dismay, there were absolutely no clean outfits in the wardrobe she suffered to bring back into her outpost. Well, with the exception of the clothes Callie left. Marie went back and forth for a small bit before deciding that Callie wouldn't mind if she borrowed just one of her outfits, they always borrowed each other's things when they were together, anyways, and even if Callie did object, Marie would be ecstatic, because that would mean that she has returned and saw it for her own eyes. Marie picked a black shirt and one of her cousin's jeans, the plainest stuff the could find, as she didn't quite want to ruin a fancier outfit, even though Callie practically never wore them under any circumstance whatsoever; they hindered how fast she could move, and she never liked being slowed by them.

After dressing up, Marie brought (see:dragged) a couch over to be in front of Octavio and started to sit on it, but even before she finished sitting down, Octavio talked, which relieved her, as she wasn't exactly excited about starting the conversation, she was never much of a social squid, after all.

-"Pretty", Octavio said all of sudden with a sincere tone, which definitely surprised Marie; as she wasn't really expecting him to notice her clothes, but it made her realize that he was at least aware of his surroundings.

-"Uh... thanks, I guess?" she said with uncertainty.

The silence returned, and Marie didn't quite manage to break it, she was already struggling to not grimace at the sight of Octavio, much less talk with him. She sighed after about ten minutes of complete silence and convinced herself that it would be a dead-end, so she headed to the small library she brought from her apartment and picked a random book, she liked reading in the open; it refreshed her a bit, so she returned to the couch which she put towards Octavio and opened her book... which turned out to be an album full of pictures of her and Callie together. She looked at the exterior for a bit before opening the book with slight reluctance, she wasn't in the mood to feel sad before heading to bed, but the those pictures meant the world to her, as she realized while flipping through the old pictures that showed a younger her and Callie playing in a field, with Callie running with a butterfly net and Marie struggling to keep with her. There were also a few pictures that showed their first concert together, and the memories overwhelmed Marie for a minute, it was during that concert that Marie had realized how much fun she had with Callie around, and how good the two would do as a duo together, she started remembering how the crowd went wild with the very first iteration of their now world-wide popular song, "Calamari Inkantation", they had simply sped up the beat of a traditional, well-known song in the Calamari County and it ended up being a massive success, if they weren't inseparable before, then that concert solidified that the two would stick together for life. Marie sighed a little at that thought, perhaps she should've talked more with Callie, perhaps then the two of them would still be together in their apartment right now, talking about the freshest things that hit Inkopolis, thinking about their gramps, and just generally being together.

-"Childhood friends?" a deep voice asked from in front of her, Octavio had, once again, broken the silence.

-"Oh, good, you're now speaking with more than one word per sentence, that's an advancement!" she said with fake enthusiasm, and, contrary to what she thought he'd do, he emitted a small, but hearty laugh.

-"But to answer you question, yeah, we've been together for as long as I can remember, and I certainly am not enjoying my time with her away...", she started to speak, it was almost relieving to finally say these things to something that wasn't a piece of furniture, still, it was Octavio, and so there was a tone of blame in her tone.

-"Complementary", he suddenly declared.

-"That's one way to put it, I suppose". In reality, she wholeheartedly agreed with his sentiment. "But now it is _my_ time to ask questions, and let me start with this: Why did you squidnap her?" she asked quickly, but Octavio looked as if he anticipated the question.

-"Later"

-"Later?! What do you mean by later?! You squidnapped one of the closest people to my heart and when I ask you why you suddenly back down?" The white tentacled inkling Idol started to nearly yell in a very accusing voice, and Octavio took a non-existent step backwards in his transparent prison.

-"I..." she started to say, she definitely wanted to yell at him for a while, but this wasn't the moment, and she was so close to actually talking about something important to her, she couldn't afford to make Octavio return to his silence now, "Listen, I, uh... let me rephrase my question: How did you feel when you did it?" she blurted out awkwardly; coming up with these questions on spot was not an easy task.

-"Unhappy" the large Octarian replied instantly.

-"Really now?" she wasn't anticipating this, while Octavio did seem to be somber, she always assumed that he was just bitter that he was captured again, not because he did something he's ashamed of, and even now, she doubted that he was telling the truth.

-"Really"

-"Can't say I quite believe it when the octopus who's saying this brainwashes his own children in order to fight under his command" she said rather nonchallantly; she always thought Octavio was well aware that what he did was bad, but to her grand surprise, when her gaze drifted back to Octavio, she saw something in his eyes... a look that she only received from Callie whenever she went too far with the snark; he clearly seemed hurt, and Marie wasn't exactly sure what the next action to happen would be, she was far to busy processing the fact that _she had accidentally hurt Octavio, of all people, by accusing him of being uncaring_.

-"No!" he cried out all of a sudden, seemingly more out of sadness than anger or dramatic entrances like he usually did, "I did it because I had to! Had I not done that, Kamabo would've found them, concluded that they were intelligent enough to be turned into labrats and... and..." he started to mumble, seemingly realizing he said to much, and just started to breath and try and calm down "I did it to protect them." He finally said.

Marie's brain was spinning right now. Kamabo? Labrats? Protect them? From what, exactly? What would've happened if they were captured? She didn't know the answer but from the look on Octavio's face, it wasn't pretty. Marie sat on her couch for a while trying to process that piece of information, before returning her attention to the obviously unhappy Octavio.

-"Hey... listen, I didn't mean it that way..." she tried to say, this reminded her way too much of how she and Callie would make up, and she wasn't prepared for the next step, which would be for Callie to hug her, she usually enjoyed this part, but instead of having her energetic, sweet and pink partner in front of her, she had Octavio. She gulped down the thought and tried to continue her phrase, "Had I known... had you said it, I would've understood better." She said while mustering the best comforting voice she could give to the purple, cousin squidnapping cephalopod, but as it turns out, it wasn't convincing, per say.

-"What would've made you believe me?" he asked, she pondered a bit before he continued "You wouldn't have believed me if I said it with a straight face. You'd have been convinced that I was playing the victim to gain your sympathy..." he started to say in a defeated tone while Marie remained silent, for the most part, he was correct.

-"I... I guess what I want to say is that I'm sorry for bringing back bad memories," she muttered in an almost-whisper, but Octavio seemed to appreciate it nevertheless, "Still, you now speak in proper sentences, so hooray for that!" she snarked a little at the Octarian in an attempt to lighten the mood, and it worked, as he gave her a chuckle in response.

-"Well, if nothing else, at least this adventure made me talk to one of my favorite two idols, so there's that." The large octopus commented, only for Marie to stare at him with her jaw nearly dropping.

-"Uh, I'm sorry, who are your favorite idols again?" A dumbfounded Marie asked.

-"Why, the one and only Squid Sisters, of course! You two are my, and practically all of the Octarians' favorite singers!" He said in a completely normal tone, as if he was just asked his name or some other obvious question.

This night was turning out to be one of the most interesting nights Marie has had in months, not that it was a difficult thing to achieve, but all this information was something she was never aware of, and it only served as a cruel reminder to her of how much she missed sharing information with Callie, who would usually listen to her all star-eyed and then start theorizing with her about a multitude of possible ways to interpret said information, with most of them being things that only Callie would be able to come up with, such as Sheldon somehow being a mastermind that controls all of Inkopolis' economy and uses all his money to buy glasses.

-"That's... something I would've never guessed." she confessed with an unsure tone, she still wasn't sure about how she should feel about this conversation she's having with Octavio, but she was most certainly less nervous about it, "Still, if we are so loved by you guys, why squidnap Callie?" she asked for the second time, hoping that this talk they had might've changed Octavio's opinion about telling her the truth, but all she received was another wave of silence before Octavio spoke out.

-"Later." He repeated, although with a more regretful tone, Marie noticed.

-"And _when_ , exactly, is this "later"?" she demanded with an irritated tone, of everything they had talked about tonight, she only truly wanted to talk about one thing, and Octavio was avoiding the question like he avoided the Plague, and it wasn't making her any happier.

-"Tomorrow?"

Marie started debating his proposal, she didn't see the point in delaying his answer for a single day, but she was afraid that should she refuse, Octavio would back out of the deal, and she would lose her single clue of finding out what happened to her friend, so she agreed with him, although with a tone of anger in her voice.

-"...Sure, fine, whatever, but what if you don't complete your promise?"

-"Then I probably just forgot, just say the word whenever you want and I'll spill the barnacles." he answered in a far-too-happy tone.

Marie glared at him for a minute before letting her couch engulf her. She did that whenever she needed to be absorbed in her thoughts for a minute, or whenever she was lazying about, but it was the former in this case, as she needed to think about everything she was told about: Apparently, Octavio didn't like squidnapping Callie, the Octarians are hunted by something called 'Kamabo', and that she and Callie are apparently big stars in the world of the Octolings. She sat there for maybe 15 minutes in complete silence while trying to process all of this, but she wasn't truly happy with it; she'd have preferred if her grandfather or her cousin, or maybe even her recruit were here so that they could give her an opinion on all of this, but the first two in particular would've either knew what to do or would've given her some comfort, while the last one would've ran around in circles while screaming. Probably.

-"I... I think that's enough chatting for today..." she finally said while looking at her tablet's clock, while Marie definitely was a night owl, she still needed sleep, and especially after tonight's information overload, but there was one thing in the back of her mind that she wanted to ask, "But I, uh, wanted to ask: why talk now, after so much time had already passed? Why talk at all, considering I'm your capturer, and I don't think I've mellowed during these months, and don't think for a moment that I'll be easy on you because we had this chat, Mr.Steal-Your-Friend" she asked in a slightly hostile tone, and Octavio actually seemed to need some time to answer her question.

-"Well, the part where you don't mellow was obvious enough," he said with a slight eye-roll, "But, uh, and you'll probably not believe me when I say this," he said while scratching the back of his "neck", and Marie looked at him with a skeptical eye, "But I felt bored" he concluded, while Marie raised a lazy eyebrow, "I mean, come on, you probably felt bored too! But you had books and the Inkternet, while I, for months, had a face full of, well, you, I guess." he tried justifying himself while Marie made a dramatic pose and pretended to be hurt, "So I tried to at least have a small conversation, and when I saw that album of yours, I knew it was my chance to make you either talk with me or hate me forever, but it was closure that I needed, not more months of silence." he finally finished, and Marie kept her skeptical look, while she didn't completely believe him, his story was plausible to some degree, if nothing else.

-"Alright, I'll pretend that this is the truth, but I think it's my time to go, Mr.I-Remixed-Callie's-Brain" she responded, greatly emphasizing on her last few words, to which Octavio gave a small groan, "But it's good to know that you have a bit of "not-badness" in ya'", she added while getting of the couch and taking her personal belongings and holding her album especially close to her chest and shivering a bit because there was an air current and she had gotten used to the soft, warm couch.

-"Is that even a word?"

-"It is now", the inkling said with a smirk

-"Sure, I'll pretend that this is the truth," he echoed with another smirk, "But I enjoyed this talk. Now I truly know who Marie Cuttlefish, the first half of my number one rival, is, and I couldn't be happier about it.", the Octarian added with a satisfied smile.

-"I'm guessing the other half is Callie?" Marie said as she was preparing to head to her bed.

-"Of course!"

-"Figures. Well, I'm going now." She replied with a large yawn.

-"G'night, rival." Octavio saluted with a wave.

And with that, Marie leaped for her bed, and within five minutes, the green squid had become a large wrapped blanket, she moved along cozily inside her bed and took her album from the small table next to her bed. She then started to flip through more pictures of her and Callie, and she noticed for the first time that there were basically no pictures where they weren't together, she looked in their childhood pictures, their teenage pictures and even their newest pictures together and almost every single picture was the both of them doing something together, and it made her miss Callie even more, she knew that she cared about her, but she never realized just how much she needed her by her side. With a heavy-hearted sigh, she closed the album, and drifted into a long sleep, thinking about the good times she had with her cousin.

\---

When Marie woke up, she instinctively grabbed the nearest device next to her to check the hour, it was 8 AM, which surprised her, considering her sleep routine, she shouldn't have been up until 11 AM _at least_ , so she pulled her covers up to ignore the pesky sunlight that somehow managed to escape the early morning's clouds and tried to continue her much desired sleep, it wasn't as if she had anything to do anyways, and Octavio could always call for her if he was that hungry, so she closed her eyes and tried to continue her slumber.

However, after spending what seemed to be half an hour in her bed, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was...off, more specifically, she felt as if someone was watching her, but she attributed it to Octavio being up, in spite of his appearance, he proved himself to be quite the energetic octopus, so she tried to continue her sleep again, yet she failed, and so, she finally admitted to be defeated, and tried to push her cover away, although at the extremely slow pace she'd always utilize.  She finally managed to push herself up and start registering how the world looks, then mumbled her, at this point, usual greeting:

-"Good morning, Callie...", she managed to say before yawning, only to be greeted with a loud and high-pitched reply:

-"Good moooooooorniiiiiing sleepyhead!" a jumpy, energetic voice suddenly spoke out from somewhere inside the outpost, and it definitely made Marie jolt for a minute, before looking at the snowglobe that was situated in front of her bed.

-"What's with the weird introduction, Octavio?" she asked the purple cephalopod with another yawn, she most certainly hadn't completely woken up yet, but what surprised her was the fact that Octavio seemed to be just as shocked by the greeting.

-"Wha... is... is the enemy attacking...? Then prepare the... Octo... sandwiches...", he muttered before shaking his head violently to make himself fully awake, "Oh, heya, g'morning, Marie..." he finally said while his eyes were still opening.

-"Uh... hey, if you just woke up, then who exactly was that?", she questioned while she as trying her best to not laugh at the mighty "Octo-Sandwiches" that will destroy the enemy, although instead if an answer, Octavio just stared at her for about ten seconds before the dopiest, happiest grin started growing on his face, like you just took a kid to a candy store and then told them that all of the candy was free.

Marie kept quiet for 5 minutes, mostly because she just needed to fully wake up, but when she did, she started feeling uneasy because of Octavio's continued, fixed gaze and started to check if something was wrong, she was still wearing yesterday's plain shirt and jeans, the outpost was more or less the same, none of her furniture had moved, and her hair was, while not perfect, positively acceptable, was he messing with her?

-"Oh, I have _absolutely_ no idea who this mysterious person could be, although I would love to know!", he spoke with what could only be described as sarcasm so obvious that Callie, who was usually oblivious to whenever Marie was being sarcastic, could spot it, and Marie kept her gaze fixed on him, trying to see if he was eyeing something behind her, but his eyes remained focused on her position, barely moving an inch.

-"You're not planning on squidnapping me, are you? Because if you do, then let me tell you,", she responded quickly and swiftly while pointing at her charger, which hadn't seen action for months now, before continuing, "I still have every bit of charger skill left in... me..." she had turned her head to check for her trusty weapon, only to notice that on the bed next to her, there was a figure. A pink figure, to be precise.

She didn't believe herself at first, she thought that it must've been Agent 4 pranking her, but the squid in front of her had extremely long black tentacles, an infectious smile and was wearing a pink beanie that Marie knew all too well, it seemed that the squid in front of her was none other than Callie. She kept staring at her for a few minutes while the pink squid's smile grew larger and larger with each passing second, Marie's jaw was dropping at this point, and her gaze shifted between Octavio and Callie before the former spoke out all of a sudden.

-"No, Marie, you're not hallucinating again, I see her, too!", he confirmed for her, and her focus became completely focused on Callie.

She must've stayed silent for more than she would've wanted, but what was she going to say? What was she going to _start_ with? Her brain didn't seem like it was able to accept the fact that Callie, of all people, was able to sneak away from her busy schedule to spend any time with her, and so she remained silent, with the words melting at her lips, she only truly accepted the fact after Callie lunged at her from the other bed and gave her a hug. On a normal day, Marie would make a dramatic noise and try and push away from Callie's regular, crushing bear-hugs. But today was not a normal day, and Marie just grabbed Callie and hugged her back with as much force as she could.

-"I missed you so much, Callie...", she finally managed to utter, barely holding back tears, all of this didn't seem real to her, and she clutched Callie tighter in fear of suddenly waking up to a pillow.

_"I missed you too, Mari-gah!", her cousin tried to say before gasping for air, Marie had underestimated how much strength she could give in a hug, and drew back immediately.

-"Ohmygosh are you okay? Are you hurt? How did you get here?", Marie's questions came one after another, she had wanted to ask these questions for such a long time, and she couldn't stop them from blurting out.

-"Woah there, Marie, easy on me, I only just arrived, after all!", she responded with a small giggle, she wasn't used to her cousin being so hyper, especially after being woken up from her beloved beauty sleep, but before she could finish, she found herself being pulled into another hug.

-"I missed you, so, so much Callie...", she repeated herself in a childlike manner while Callie happily returned the hug.

-"If you tell me again, that'll be thrice!", she exclaimed, but Marie couldn't have cared less, "I missed you too, Marie..." she said while finally pulling away from the hug. Marie just kept smiling for a few seconds before finally realizing that she should probably start a conversation with questions and such.

-"Just... how and when did you get here, and why haven't you told me that you were coming back home?", the light-green squid started to ask, with Callie responding with a small mischievous smile.

-"Well, I got here by plane, I arrived this morning, and I didn't tell you that I was coming because I wanted to surprise you, Marie!", she enthusiastically started to list, Marie had missed her enthusiasm so incredibly much, as it was what made her actually try new things instead of convincing herself that lazying in the bed would be a better activity, "That'll be 50G for the information, girls." Callie continued while giving her best Crusty Sean voice, prompting Marie to snicker a little.

-"Well, you sure did that surprise part, I can guarantee you, I was 100% surprised.", Marie replied with the closest thing possible to her normal voice; she was still far too excited about this entire ordeal.

-"Really?!", Callie asked with awe, she'd always try and surprise Marie with various things back in their apartment without much success, so this certainly meant the world to her.

-"Really", Marie answered with a big smile while her friend emitted a big "Yaaaay" before pouting,"Still, I didn't prepare for any of this, and I have absolutely no activities planned for both of us...", Marie admitted in a somber tone, part of her was devastated because most of Callie's days off were usually short, so short in fact, that she couldn't utilize them to visit Marie, as she was usually exhausted by the end of her filming routine, but on the contrary, Callie's usual smile became a massive grin.

-"That's where the second surprise comes into play!", she proudly announced, having caught the white-tentacled squid's attention, "I have an entire month and a half off!", she finished, and Marie, after a few seconds of silence, erupted into a massive scream, which caught Callie off-guard.

-"We'll have so much fun together! I saw this great shirt in the Mall the other day, it would look great on you! Have you heard of Clam Blitz? Oooh, the new Grizzco company! There's just so much to do now that we're together again!" Marie started to list, while Callie held her and started shaking her.

-"Get it together, Marie! One of us needs to remain level-headed, an that person is certainly not going to be me!", she started to order Marie, to which she replied with a "Yes siree!", before finally collapsing on the bed and looking at Marie with a tired expression.

-"Man, did you know that 7-hour flights make beds look sooo much better, Marie?", a tired Callie started telling Marie, who laughed at Callie's logic.

-"Beds always look great."

-"That's the Marie I missed during these months!", Callie said while rolling on her bed to sit on her stomach and look at Marie, "So, Agent 2, could you give me a quick summary on what happened while I was gone?", Callie asked while impersonating the voice of their aging grandfather, she was actually really good at these things, Marie noticed.

-"Oh, there were _many_ things in these months," Marie started to tell, she talked to Callie about the fresh clothes she saw, the new modes in Turf War, the so-called Grizzco company, and the new Inkopolis News hosts: Off The Hook.

-"Aw man, I knew our positions would be taken after such a long break from our end...", Callie pouted, "I loved working there, y'know? Definitely gonna miss winning Splatfest against you...", she joked while Marie closed an eye and gave her a look with the open one, they always loved to debate whether or not the final Splatfest was the most important one or not, "Still, who are the new hosts anyways? The Squid Brothers?", she wondered and Marie chuckled at her cousin's imagination before pulling her tablet into Callie's view.

-"Nah. The new duo are called Pearl and Marina, see for your self," she gave Callie the tablet, which was displaying a concert hosted by the two, Pearl was a short squid, that was for sure, but if nothing else, she was a ball of energetic charm, her sense of fashion didn't differ too much from that of usual inklings, although she wore a small crown that tilted off her head and seemed to be a fan of both fingerless gloves and zippers, as evidenced by the fact that her shoes and jacket were decorated by three zippers that were positively bigger than her head, while Marina, on the other hand, was an Octoling.

-"Ooooh, Octoling singers! I always wondered how they'd sound like!" Callie squeaked with child-like glee, Marie shook her head, her cousin always had an unexplained fondness for talking with Octolings, even though she'd likely need to splat them a few seconds later, it was quite silly from Marie's point of view, but she mostly ignored that bit, as it never did any harm. "I gotta say, partner, these guys got style!", she said in a rather worried tone, "Think we can take them on?"

-"What? Course we can, other partner!" Marie assured firmly, "Nothing can stop The Squid Sisters, ya' hear me? Besides, our catchphrase was waaaaay cooler than theirs", she said and Callie nodded in agreement.

-"Say, aren't these clothes mine? Why are you wearing them?", Callie suddenly noted while Marie replied sheepishly:

-"I... uh, didn't do the laundry?", she reluctantly admitted, "I'm sorry?"

-"That's not what I mean! I have way better clothing, my clothes are yours, remember? Come on, let's go find you something better.", the pink Idol offered, with Marie giving her a big smile, this was just like the good times.

-"So how about tell me what happened in the outpost while I was gone? This place seems like a fully furnished apartment now!", Callie exclaimed with wonder while hoping towards the wardrobe.

-"Well, we didn't pay our rent for a while, and we got kicked out.", Marie answered nonchallantly while Callie stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her with horror, "Don't worry! I moved all of our stuff here, including your drawing books.", she assured her energetic friend; while Marie was never big on the arts, Callie adored them, as such, it was only natural that she'd have a few paintings here and there, Marie never saw them, as Callie saved them for an occasion she never knew, but she thought that they must be beautiful, considering Callie seemed to be very proud of them. When they finally reached the wardrobe, Callie looked with an astounded expression at her partner.

-"You really didn't do the laundry while I was gone?", she questioned and Marie gave her a shy smile in return.

-"I kind-of maybe definitely didn't do anything while you were gone?", Callie facepalmed.

-"I guess that means I'll do it after emptying my bags...", she murmured between her fingers.

-"What would I have done without you?", Marie asked while giving Callie a small hug.

-"Not much, it looks like.", her cousin snarked and she laughed before heading with her to check her bags.

-"So how did you avoid those fans that would mob you every time they saw you, Mrs. Famous?", Marie wondered as she was emptying Callie's "performance bag" that held all of her performance tools and accessories.

-"Well, being here at 5 AM in the morning certainly helped, and I bought some new clothes that none would've recognized me with!" she proudly exclaimed, while Marie admired her so-called disguise, she was wearing black shorts, a white T-shirt that had a black undershirt and a pink jacket that matched the colors, alongside her bright-pink beanie, of course, but in spite of this, Marie couldn't help but notice that she completely forgot to hide her face or even her eyes, which had star-like pupils that made her stand out.

-"Yeah, I'm going to say that being an early squid is what helped you, because while these clothes are very pretty," she complemented while Callie gave her an upbeat "Thanks!", "They aren't exactly great for disguising. You didn't even hide your face, Callie!", she pointed out to her oblivious partner, who simply laughed it off and continued moving her things.

-"So tell me, did anything happen in the Tentakeel Outpost while I was gone, Cap'n Marie?" she asked while she was trying to get a bike out of one of her bags, how Callie managed to both fit these things in and drag them remained a mystery to her.

-"Why yes, Agent 1, there were many things that happened here, such as me feeling bored, or me feeling bored, or me missing you. Also Agent 4 helped me move our stuff. And gramps seems to be missing." Marie concluded with fake enthusiasm, while Callie looked worried.

-"Gramps is missing?! We need to send a rescue squad! He's probably got himself squidnapped by DJ Octavio again!", she started to panic before Marie calmed her down.

-"Hey, hey, relax, I'll try and get a hold of him today, if not, you can send as many rescue squads as you like, 'kay?", Callie nodded in agreement, and she was just about to say something before being cut off.

_"Hey! We also chatted yesterday! That's a note-worthy event, don'tcha think?", Octavio yelled all of a sudden from his snow-globe, catching Callie off-guard while Marie gave him a death-glare, but before she could reply Callie had already started asking several questions.

-"Wait, you two talked?! Octavio talks? What did you discuss? Fashion? Battles? Oooh, Octavio is secretly a nice guy, right? Tell me!", Marie had trouble understanding how she can talk so fast, but after a few years of living with her, she could at least decipher what she said, while Octavio remained speechless.

-"Now, now, you just returned from an exhausting trip, how about you rest for the day and then let me tell you the deets later?", proposed Marie, but Callie seemed to strongly oppose the idea.

-"Rest? This early? Come on Marie, just tell me what happened!", she pressured, sometimes Marie forgot just how much of a morning person Callie is, "I promise that I'll try to rest if you tell me.", yet to no avail, as Marie remained silent, but not for long, because the next moment, Callie had pouted and gave Marie the puppy eyes, "Pleeease?".

Now, Marie considered herself as a very unshakable squid, there was almost nothing that could make her change her mind off a situation. Key word here is almost, however, because if there was one thing she could never say no to, was a Callie with puppy eyes. Octavio seemed to agree, because he muttered something in Octarian, and while Marie wasn't fluent with language like Callie was, in spite of the fact that she spent more time learning it from her grandfather, she could make out one word of what he said, and that word was "Adorable".

-"Well said.", she turned and told him before directing her attention back to Callie, "Alright, I'll tell you, but there's not much to it, okay?", she lied, hoping to deter her, but Callie seemed unfazed, as such, Marie started telling Callie what happened during that day from when Octavio started to talk, to the whole album thing, which Callie commented on by giving Marie another hug, to the Kamabo business, to the fact that the Octarians are massive fans of The Squid Sisters, finally finishing with the reason for why Octavio talked, Callie listened to all of that with awe and wonder, her eyes almost glittering, Octavio seemed to approve of her tale, as he didn't object to any of it, and much to Marie's pleasure, he seemed to be smart enough to know that bringing up the topic of why the Octarians squidnapped Callie wasn't a phenomenal idea.

-"That's so very interesting!", Callie said after a while of processing the information, " I knew there was more to you, you big octopus!" she suddenly turned her attention to Octavio, who in turn decided to take that as a complement and thanked her.

-"So, I'm going to try and find gramps," Marie suddenly announced and changed the mood while Callie begged to stay with her.

-"Why can't I come and check in on him with you?", she whined while Marie tried to find a suitable excuse for leaving her behind, in reality, she just didn't want her to worry, especially on her first day back!

-"Becauuuuuse,", she started to say, "You need to stay and keep watch over the outpost...?" she said with slight uncertainty, but Callie seemed to buy it, because she suddenly beamed.

-"Aye, aye, Cap'n Marie!", she replied and Marie hurried off while attempting to ignore Octavio's accusing glance, she never liked lying to Callie, but she _hated_ seeing her upset, so it was the lesser of the two evils, in her opinion.

In a matter of 10 minutes, she had taken her tablet and tried to pinpoint her grandfather's location; she had installed a tracking device in her grandfather's phone in order to find him in situations like these, and while it took a few minutes of searching, she finally found him, he was apparently in a site called "MARINA'S CHAT ROOM".

Marie hesitated on whether or not she should open the link she was handed, and was suddenly far more relived that she sent Callie away, such an innocent squid should be subjugated to, what she thought to be, such vile things, and she repeatedly checked to see if she had accidentally probed Agent 3's phone, but she didn't really want to keep Callie waiting by her lonesome with Octavio, so she took a deep breath and clicked the link.

The chatroom required a name to be accessed, and since Marie didn't want her secret identity to be found out, she went with Agent 2 as her name and hopped in. The design was fairly old and basic, and a big yellow sentence popped up as she entered:

Webmaster: Agent 2 has joined the chatroom.

Way to be discreet, she thought, and as such, she tried to type a few sentences to see if her tracking device had failed and led her here, only for her to see a name respond to her: "CraigCuttlefish", there was no room for doubt, it was her grandfather, although she was still bemused as to _why_ he was hanging out here, she expressed her concern, but it seemed like it was simply a normal chatroom, and her grandfather was still having difficulties utilizing the Inkternet. Apparently, both him and Agent 3 were doing well and were "just protecting Inkopolis", she told him that she was happy he's okay, but didn't want to worry him with telling him that Callie's back, he'd then ask where she was in the first place, and she'd have to tell him that she was squidnapped, something she was not looking forward to explaining to him, unfortunately for her, he apparently didn't know when he was coming back, but he hoped he'd be back soon, and he wanted some seaweed stew for dinner, same old gramps. She bid him farewell and left the chatroom to return to her cousin and continue chatting with her.

When Marie returned to Callie, she immediately noticed that her partner was chatting with someone else, someone that wasn't Octavio: Agent 4. Marie herself was a little surprised at her visit, the last time she saw the young inkling girl was a little over 2 months ago, and she usually just sent text messages to insure that she's doing well, so seeing her visit the outpost was more than unexpected. Apparently, she had a few days of nothingness and decided to check on Marie, only to find that Callie has returned, and she found it to be a perfect chance for her to do something, much to Marie's dismay; she was hoping that she'd be able to spend some time alone with Callie and talk about the many things she wanted to ask her, so Agent 4's surprise vacation, which would apparently last two days before she returns to doing her thing, while very much a welcome surprise, just came at the wrong time. Still, Marie was certain that there could be things that they could chat about even with Agent 4's presence.

She was correct, although for the wrong reasons, Callie had found her "Agent 4 Factopedia", which she had written in her spare time (and boy,she had lots of spare time during these months) so that her grandfather could get a better idea on who their new recruit is without her having to spend time telling him herself and, as expected, both Callie and Agent 4 had a field day with the so-called "Factopedia", with Callie reciting the numerous statistics and numbers that Marie noted in there, while Agent 4 remained silent, Marie could only hide her horror, as she was certain that the young inkling was waiting for the right opportunity to make fun of Marie, it didn't help that the "Factopedia" was hidden behind a loose wooden tile in the bench that Callie was sitting on, and it only enlarged the amount of jokes Agent 4 could make.

Still, Marie was able to inform Callie of the fact that their grandfather was fine and that he was trying to get back home, and the pink squid rejoiced, she definitely cared a lot about the old squid, and to hear that he is fine must've relived her of a lot of stress, even if she was entirely weirded out by the fact that he apparently has learnt how to use the Inkternet during his expedition and was using a chatroom.

This week was turning out to be one of Marie's best weeks in a lifetime, having found her grandfather, seen Agent 4 again and with Callie's surprise visit, but she still wanted something else: Some alone-time with her partner, cousin, and best friend: Callie. And after Agent 4 departed and, most importantly, the laundry was finished, she wanted to chat with Callie in an honest, face-to-face discussion, to ask her about how she is doing, to tell her about the thoughts that flooded Marie's brain while she was gone, to invite her to one of the many new activities that joined Inkopolis Square and, most importantly, to tell her how much she meant to her.

Did she have a plan on when, and most importantly, _how_ she'd do those things? Not in the slightest. Was she going to succeed? Definitely.


	2. Star Gazing.

After Agent 4's departure, Marie started thinking about what exactly she could do with her cousin; while she would have loved a game of Turf War, she decided that Callie would be far too tired to even think about it, after all, she crunched the month and a half she took off into two weeks so that she could've taken her vacation, which must've been exhausting, and Marie knew how it felt, so she decided to give her an entire week of relaxing, even if Callie protested many times against the idea, the energetic squid seemed to be better than ever, but Marie knew better than anyone that a week of relaxing is certainly what she needed.

They had, thankfully, managed to finish the laundry in record time, so Marie had a decent amount of time to start planning what she and Callie can do during that first week. She tried thinking about what types of activities can be done in the outpost, but she found none, unfortunately, as the place wasn't exactly an entertainment center, its one massive upside was that it was open, which helped ventilate the place, and Marie enjoyed reading a good book in the fresh air, looking at the stars during the night.

Then it suddenly hit her: Callie loved to look at the stars, if her memory served her right, whenever the duo would have a chance, they'd sleep under the stars, and for as long as Marie knew Callie, she hadn't missed a single chance to look at a meteor shower when one was occurring, this was exactly what she needed, a chance to do something they'd both enjoy, then she'll get her chance to finally speak truthfully with her cousin.

She had no idea whether or not a meteor shower was about to happen, and a quick check on the Inkternet proved to be unhelpful, but nevertheless she was set on the idea of watching the stars with Callie, she just needed to think about what they'll do then.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a voice that nearly made her jump:

-"Whatcha' thinking about, Marie?", it was Callie, despite the fact that she had emptied her bags and has now spent a few days with Marie, she still wasn't used to her being around, not that she minded being occasionally surprised by her friend, it made life just a tiny bit more fun, but still.

-"Oh, it's nothing", the green squid lied, she wanted to surprise Callie with the idea, if nothing else, it would allow her to at least partially return Callie's surprise visit.

-"Mhmm.", Callie hummed with an unconvinced tone, "I know when you're hiding something, Marie, and you can bet your tentacles I'll discover the truth.", she challenged with a determined tone, and Marie accepted the challenge:

-"Alright, Mrs. Detective, we'll see how much of my plan you can discover before it's too late!", her partner replied before erupting into a fake evil laugh, and with that, Callie was off to find evidence, as she put it, that could be scattered around the place.

Maire watched her scoot around the outpost, lifting tables, checking wooden tiles, checking Octavio's globe, which he didn't appreciate much, before finally giving up temporarily and heading for her drawing books, claiming that it would clear her mind, Marie resisted the urge to ask her what exactly she was drawing, as Callie seemed bent on keeping it a secret for now, but she was about to sink in her thoughts again before being startled by another massive sneeze by Octavio.

-"I think you might have the flu, buddy.", she commented while the large Octarian sniffed and looked at her with teary eyes.

-"Aw, shucks, it only took you two months to finally comment on my sneezing!", he sarcastically exclaimed before picking up his sentence, "But actually I think I'm just allergic to something in this place... Maybe I have an allergy to snowglobes?", he asked while Marie gave him an eye-roll.

-"But these globes are the freshest thing in the market, I would never let a dear friend not be fresh, what do you think I am, a monster?", she replied to him with a rather large smirk, she enjoyed making fun of him, and he didn't seem to mind, if not outright stating to enjoy it, still, she always wondered if this Octavio and the Octavio she fought were the same person, while the latter seemed to be as overly-dramatic as possible, villainy and liked to throw many, many lines that looked like they'd fit in a comic book, the former was, for Marie's lack of a better term, _reasonable_ , if nothing else, and he seemed far more calm, as if he was trying to relax from something, what that 'something' was, her guess was as good as anyone's.

He sniffed again and blankly stared at the horizon, he did that for most of the time that he wasn't chatting with Marie, as Callie, while very interested in what he says, never took the chance of actually talking with him, she always seemed too intimidated or shy to start a conversation, which was something unlike Calllie; whenever there was someone new in the perimeter, she'd be the one who's making all the conversations, why she decided against her usual attitude with Octavio was unknown to Marie, and she just made a mental note to add it to her ever-expanding list of "Things to ask to Callie during our hangout session".

Marie kept thinking about how she could make their night a memorable one, the first idea that came to her mind was, unsurprisingly, to bring their two couches so that they can be comfortable during the night, the second idea was to bring two blankets, because she couldn't remember a time where they looked at the stars and didn't fall asleep, which always resulted in the two of them getting a cold, something Marie never liked dealing with. Marie frowned for a minute, so far the only ideas she could come up with were related to sleeping, and while she didn't mind the idea, they needed something else while they chatted, something they both enjoyed...

Snacks. Marie resisted a massive urge to scream a "Eureka!", that was exactly what they needed; Marie and Callie had one thing they always agreed on: Food is always good. The next part was a bit tricky, as Marie needed to accommodate both their tastes, and that's where things get really messy; firstly, she'd need to go out and actually buy the stuff, secondly, she'd need to keep the stuff hidden until the night, and with Callie's current detective work, it wasn't going to be an easy task. Still, she liked a good challenge every once in a while, and she began thinking about how she should approach the matter while humming a bit, she was thinking of a plan to help her situation when she noticed another voice humming, it certainly wasn't Callie's, and so her gaze headed to the only suspect available: Octavio.

Her assumption was correct, he was humming "Calamari Inkantation", something he did every once in a while, and Marie called him:

-"You love that song an awful lot, don't you?", she asked and he responded with a small nod, "Seems odd, considering the fact that the two times you heard it were moments before you were about to be shot down from your flying thingy."

-"Hey, I consider myself a very lucky octopus for the fact that whenever my backside gets handed to me, it's done while some phenomenal song is being played, not many others can say that!", he replied while shrugging with his tentacles, "'Sides, who _doesn't_ love that song?" he resumed before returning to his humming.

-"Can't argue with that logic, I suppose.", she said while Octavio continued his humming, "Although I would at least think you have a small bit of you that doesn't adore the song that usually makes you forget that you're being shot down.", but Octavio just stopped and gave her a look of disagreement.

-"Please, Marie, I hate denying the truth, and the truth of the matter is that those beats were _spicy_ , especially your latest remix, that was some grade A remixing right there!", he stated, and Marie smiled a bit.

-"You would know a lot about remixing, wouldn't you?", she remarked and Octavio returned her smile with a sheepish expression, "But it's nice to know that you're a fan."

-"Yeah, you could say that. Although I'm much more of an air conditioner.", he joked, and when he looked at Marie, all he could see was a blank stare before she lifted her hand to perform what could only be described as the world's slowest, most disappointed facepalm.

-"I can't believe you made that joke...", she sighed while Octavio snickered for a a few minutes.

-"Say, what _are_ you planning on doing tonight, anyways?", the cephalopod asked with an intrigued tone, to which Marie replied to with a sly look:

-"Nuh-uh, you're going to have to figure it out on your own! Try to be more like Callie and figure out the evidence yourself.", she said playfully, but Octavio looked like he didn't quite get the joke, because he lifted a "knuckled" tentacle to his head and started thinking out-loud:

-"Let's see...," was all she could hear before he started to mumble incomprehensible words, and after a few attempts to make out what he was saying, she decided to give up and think about how she was going to prepare tonight's event.

Marie decided that bringing anything before the evening would be a terrible idea, as Callie's searching sessions would reveal anything hidden in the outpost, so she spent most of the morning lazying about and talking with Callie, mostly sticking to basic questions, as she believed that the more personal questions should be asked while her cousin was in a good mood, still, she did get an interesting bit of information, and that was the fact that Callie apparently told her crew that she'd be filming a documentary about the Octarians to avoid their questions about why they couldn't find her in Inkopolis, when Marie asked her if she was actually going to present that documentary, she remained silent; she didn't think this far, luckily they both agreed that a ten minute documentary would greatly satisfy Callie's manager, as the Inklings had next to no knowledge about the Octarians, as such, anything that even mentioned them would mostly receive a great reception.

Time had passed and Marie decided that it was the perfect time to start purchasing tonight's necessities, she disguised her shopping trip as her buying food for the three of them in the outpost, which was a half-truth, as they were actually running low on supplies, and then dug out her Agent 2 outfit, as while she did lose popularity in the past few months due to the fact that no one has seen her for a few months now, she still wasn't so unknown to the point where she wouldn't be recognized. Her disguise was composed of a plain black dress, a short, green and patched jacket that had definitely seen better days before her days as Agent 2, a typical green cap that resembled those sold by the usual fashion stores and a face mask that hid most of her facial features, save for her eyes, it wasn't a perfect disguise, as she discovered one time where an excited Agent 4 ran towards her while she was on a re-supply mission, but as long as she wasn't facing someone that personally knew her, the disguise served its job. Callie didn't ask any questions when Marie told her that she was heading outside to buy some stuff, although she gave her a strange look, and Octavio was still absorbed in his thoughts, she admired how much effort he was putting into finding out something that probably has no effect on him whatsoever, even though she felt that he probably needed to move sometime soon, as he hadn't changed his position ever since the morning.

The trip to the Arowana Mall was mostly uneventful, no one had recognized her or even gave her much attention, she looked just like any other squid who was buying things, and after a long day of Turf Wars, many squids were practically sleep walking in the stores, which certainly helped maintain her disguise, the only part that had some issues was convincing the supermarket clerk that she was simply throwing a party that had lots of guests, as the amount of things she bought was not small, to say the least; she didn't want to have to make another trip like this for a few weeks, so she bought an entire month's supplies, and while she did manage to get out of the store with them, the trip back to the outpost was not fun, but after what seemed like an eternity, Marie was overjoyed to finally see the sewer vent that led to her temporary home.

Upon entering, Marie was immediately greeted by her cousin, who helped her empty her bags before begging her to tell her what she was planning tonight, as she couldn't figure it out despite her best efforts, Marie simply told her that all will be revealed tonight before going to change back to her regular clothes, it was then she noticed the state of the outpost. Callie wasn't lying when she said she did her best, the entire place was searched, from the books, to the wardrobes, she even pushed Octavio's globe and looked under it for any clues, yet to no avail. What alarmed Marie, however, is that Octavio's globe was now looking very prone to falling, apparently, Callie forgot the fact that behind Octavio was a big, vast sea of clouds, so the two cousins hurried and returned the purple octopus to his usual place, but he seemed too absorbed in his thoughts to notice the chaos around him.

When Marie changed her clothes, and Callie had returned everything to normal, she finally sat on her couch that was still facing Octavio as she didn't bother to move it back to its original spot. She sank into her couch and tried to rest from the trip to the Mall only for Octavio burst out all of a sudden:

-"I figured it out! I know what you're doing tonight!", Marie was really staring to dislike how much he seemed to pick the worst times to yell out his thoughts, but she pushed that thought aside, as she was actually curious to what he thought they'd do tonight.

-"Alright, Einstquid, tell me about your great discoveries", she murmured as she sat back on her couch.

-"Well, I don't know what took me so long to notice it, but this place isn't exactly filled with things to do now, is it?", he concluded before stopping Marie, who was about to say something, "Thanks, captain obvious. There, I did it for ya'. Anyways, considering the fact that you Inklings aren't fond of doing activities during the night, and since you definitely won't consider watching TV an interesting activity," he continued his theorization while Marie remained silent; there were actually times where she hyped up Callie only to reveal that they were going to watch TV, much to the other squid's dismay, "And so that leaves one logical possibility that utilizes the one upside of this outpost: star gazing!". He finally finished while wearing a proud expression, and Marie seemed half-impressed:

-"Huh. You actually figured it out, well done.", she said with a slow applause, and Octavio seemed impossibly amazed.

-"I... I actually did it? I was completely pulling things out of my ink...", he muttered in an unbelieving tone, while Marie looked at him with a puzzled expression.

-"Wait, so what was with your entire meditation gig that you kept doing for the whole day?", a stunned Marie asked.

-"Oh, I was just putting on a show to make my answer sound more profreshional, but I guess Lady Luck smiled down on me today,", he replied nonchalantly while Marie shook her head, "Still, where's my prize?", he finally demanded in a non-serious voice.

-"Your prize? What do you want, exactly?", Marie asked with an uncertain tone, while she wouldn't mind changing his globe's place if that's what he wanted, anything else she'd consider out of line, but there's one part she focused on, "Also, Lady Luck? I've only ever heard my gramps use that term, and he's ancient!", she noted while emitting a small laugh, but Octavio remained silent and looked at her with a "Well, yeah" expression before the realization hit her. "Oh, right... I, uh, well, I mean, you just don't look...uh..."

-"Nevermind that, I get remarks like that all the time. Anyways, my prize...", he started to think while rubbing his tentacles, 'How abouuuut moving my globe to be next to your seats? Would make looking at the stars easier.", he finally finished, and Marie thought that it was a simple enough request, and agreed to his demand.

-"Hey, what are you two talking about?", Callie suddenly asked from behind the white tentacled squid, this time she didn't actually jump, maybe she had gotten used to this, she thought.

-"Oh, nothing huge, just talking about what you two will do tonight.", Octavio casually replied, and Marie just gave him a terrified expression and an eye twitch.

-"Really?! Oooh, tell me, tell me! Please!", she started begging Octavio, but he seemed to think about something before directing his speech back to the now jumpy pink squid.

-"Alright, I'll give you a small hint:", he slowly said and Callie held her breath, "You'll enjoy it.", he finally said, and Marie let out a sigh of relief while Callie pouted.

-"Come oooon, at least tell me _when_ I'll know.", she whined and Marie thought that it was finally time to unveil the surprise, as the sun was setting, and the stars were starting to show up, all she needed was to move some furniture around and get the snacks out, but she wanted to keep things secretive for just a few more minutes.

-"Alright, I'll tell you,", she said to a now overly-excited Callie, "but first, put this on.", she ordered while handing a blindfold she had prepared for this occasion to her cousin, who reluctantly did as she was told.

Now the clock was ticking, and Marie ran towards Callie's favorite couch, it was essentially a replica of Marie's, only, it was pink. Go figure. The process of pushing it to face towards the edge was less than smooth, and it certainly wasn't quiet, which left Callie distressed.

-"Uh... is everything alright, Marie?", she worried, it didn't help that the answer she got was a bunch of gasping from an exhausted Marie that just barely covered half the distance towards the edge of the outpost.

-"Oh man, that's some heavy stuff that's happening right now.", Octavio commented while addressing Callie, and Marie secretly cursed the fact that he seemingly learnt how to tease people from her.

-"Wait, what's happening?! I think I'll-"

-"Do _not_ take the blindfold off, Callie!", a disgruntled Marie commanded while she was taking her breath; she finally pushed Callie's couch to be next to hers.

-"Alright, no need to shout, but if you need any help..."

-"What? Nonono, it's fine.", Marie lied as she was sprinting for the blankets, she was so close to being done, she couldn't ruin the surprise now.

-"Hey... I think you forgot something...", Octavio noted with a smug smile while Marie was putting the finishing touches on her setup and preparing the snacks, and when she looked at him, she realized that, much to her horror, he was referring the the fact that he wanted his globe to be moved. Cursing her decision to agree to his request, she started adjusting his globe while he started to throw orders, telling her to move it "just a little bit to the north-west...", but after a few minutes, he finally contented, and Marie rejoiced before heading to the other squid.

-"Alright, you can finally take it off now.", she said and Callie didn't waste a second, she nearly tore the thing apart in her rush to discover what Marie was planning for the entire day.

-"Ta-da!", Marie exclaimed while Callie sprinted towards her setup with enthusiasm, and Marie slowly tried to catch up, she was still tired from her "speed-moving", which apparently wasn't as speedy as she hoped it would be, because the sun was basically gone now and was sending out the last of its rays.

-"Oooh, let me guess... we're watching TV?", Callie asked and Marie felt a small poke of guilt at the the idea that this was her cousin's highest expectation.

-"Well, something similar, but tonight, we're watching something else...", Marie answered while lifting the other idol's head towards the sky, and Callie squealed.

-"We're watching the stars?! We're watching the stars! We haven't done that since forever!", Callie screamed while practically jumping between every sentence, and Marie smiled in return.

-"Yep. Surprise!", the white tentacled Inkling finally said, while her cousin laughed and inspected the snacks that Marie brought.

-"Marie! You even brought pineapple pizza! I thought you hated that stuff- hey, there's an issue with this one, half of it doesn't have any pineapples!", the pink squid complained, for whatever reason, she loved pineapple pizza, Marie shrugged the thought, it wasn't rare for one of them to love something while having the other hate it.

-"Yeah, I still didn't quite change my opinion regarding that abomination.", Marie casually replied while Callie gave her a light punch on her shoulder.

-"Wait! There's one thing I need to bring, just a sec!", Callie announced before sprinting back towards the outpost, and Marie took the time to settle on her couch before looking at Octavio, who seemed busy admiring the stars.

-"Hey, don't think about-"

-"Too late; already going to intrude on your chat.", he interrupted Marie, not lifting his gaze an inch, and she just sighed and hoped he'd have the decency to not intrude during the important talks.

-"I'm back! Just needed to bring Chargy and Rolly; it wouldn't be the same without them now, would it?", Callie yelled while running to her seat.

-"Chargy and Rolly?", Marie asked as Callie threw her charger in her lap, "Oh yeah, Chargy and Rolly!", she remembered all of a sudden while setteling her charger next to her couch, "We haven't used those names in a _l_ _ifetime_!"

-"Correction: _you_ haven't used those names in a lifetime.", her pink friend corrected, and Marie rolled her eyes, it wasn't unusual for Callie to affectionately nickname their personal belongings, but one name that stuck with Marie was "Chargy" for her Hero Charger, she didn't know why, but she loved the name, and started using it more and more after saving Callie.

-"Yeah, but how about we focus on tonight's main attraction?", Marie suddenly proposed and Callie seemed to agree, because she hastily sat on her couch and started looking into the sky.

-"She's a nice Inkling, this Agent 4, y'know?", Callie said after about a minute of silence had passed.

-"Yeah, I think I have an eye for Agents. That, and that she was the first person that got here, so that gave her extra points.", Marie agreed before adding, "Still, you never talked much about her.", she noted.

-"Yep, probably because I didn't have much to ask, she's a very talkative person; she told me about herself the moment we met, and then told me about the adventures she had in The Canyon.", the pink squid idol explained, while Marie emitted an "oooh" before chuckling.

-"She's still young and excitable, and I bet she's having great difficulty with the whole secretive aspect of The New Squidbeak Splatoon.", Marie said and Callie nodded before she continued, "Still, I don't think she's nice enough to the point where she'd buy dinner for an _international movie star_ ", Marie pointed out while the other squid fiddled with her tentacles and smiled sheepishly; Marie wasn't willing to let go of the time Callie asked Agent 4 to buy her dinner after seeing how many Grizzco shifts she worked, especially considering Marie heard horror stories of how Agent 4 nearly got splatted there.

-"Marieee, cut me some slack, will ya'? You would've done the same if you were me!", her cousin tried defending herself, but Marie gave her a fake accusing glance and resumed her talk.

-"I find it strange that _you_ were the one to get the money, though... I guess that's what a few months of silence do to ya'", she thought, referencing an old Splatfest argument of theirs, Love vs Money, as one could guess, Marie went with the second option.

-"Eh... it's probably for the same reason you got to be the temporary captain in spite of me being the older Agent here.", Callie shrugged and Marie looked at her with a glare.

-"Come on, how was I supposed to find gramps' hideout? You only found it because you jumped into the sewers!", Marie protested while Callie got a slice of pineapple pizza put of its box.

-"Don't deny that you owe me for letting you into The New Squidbeak Splatoon!", Callie teased and Marie grumbled a "Guess you're right" before taking a pineapple-free pizza slice from its box.

-"The stars are really pretty tonight.", Callie said while taking a bite out of her pizza slice and Marie agreed.

-"Yep. They remind me of the night when we saved The Great Zapfish from The Octo Caverns.", her cousin said while she stared at a particularly strong one.

-"Woah, the memories are all flooding back!", Callie yelled and Marie laughed.

-"Yeah, remember when gramps first told us about the Octarian threat and we both thought he was talking nonsense before he showed us the Caverns?", Marie asked while Callie excitedly replied.

-"And remember when we got to the first kettle? We had so much trouble there! The first Octo-stomp did us in more times than I can count!"

-"And remember when you two finally reached my kettle and fought me? I didn't even have a flying Octobot King at the time!", Octavio suddenly dropped in on their conversation and Callie suddenly snapped her focus to him while Marie rolled her eyes before giving a small smile; at least he butted in at a decent time.

-"Yeah, we totally wrecked your spider there, even though we had some trouble at first.", she reminded him, but he seemed entirely unfazed by her remark.

-"I like to think that our fight was what helped inspire you two to make Calamari Inkantation.", he said while he moved his head to face both of them.

-"Well... you're not wrong...", Marie slowly admitted, while they were working on the song for a while, the fight with Octavio was what gave them the rhythm they needed, and after his fight, both of them knew exactly what they should do.

-"Wait... that means I need my share of the royalties! I demand they get delivered the The Vaults-Octo!", he suddenly exclaimed and the two young squids laughed at his demands before Marie spoke up:

-"I miss that place, it was one of the funner parts of the Caverns, from the name to the many places that required keys... I wonder what happened to it now.", Marie directed her speech to Octavio.

-"Oh, it's gone, like the rest of The Caverns; they crumbled the moment you two retrieved The Great Zapfish and cut the power.", he answered casually, but both Marie and Callie looked at him with bewilderment.

-"Wait... did it really need power that badly? And if it truly did, why didn't you power it off of anything else?", Marie asked with a worried tone while Callie looked concerned.

-"Yeah, the entire place was a bunch of moving and floating platforms that needed energy, and after the power was out, they fell. As for why we never looked for any other power source, the answer was simple: There were no other power sources d that could be dragged down there using cables; the place was isolated. Besides, I had evacuated it right before our battle together.", he answered, still maintaining the casual tone of voice.

-"So did the same thing happen to The Valley and The Canyon?", Marie asked.

-"Nah, they are on the verge, though. The difference is that those two were built on slightly solid ground, so even when power was out, they didn't completely crumble.", he responded before directing his gaze to the stars again, and Marie took it as a sign that he didn't want to continue talking about the subject, so she remained silent and took the time to finish her pizza slice, only to notice that Callie had gone through four slices while Octavio was talking. There was a reason one of her Splatfest teams was Team Eating.

-"I missed spending time with you, Cal.", she said to her cousin, catching her off-guard.

-"Cal? You didn't call me Cal ever since we saved The Great Zapfish together, Marie! Is something wrong?!", the black tentacled Inkling asked with great concern, while the white tentacled one laughed.

-"What? No, it's nothing like that, but I just wanted to get it off my chest, y'know? Ever since you left, I realized just how much... I can't quite describe it, but the closest word that comes to mind is 'depended', on you to be by my side.", Marie started explaining in a calm tone, "I know that this must sound cheesier than Swiss cheese, but I really did feel that way."

-"Marieee! You don't have to hide these things from me, you know, I would greatly appreciate it if you told them to me, and, well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the same out there.", her cousin replied while she munched some of her pizza.

-"It's not that I wanted to _hide_ it, Cal, but you needed to relax from the stress of your job, and asking you these silly thoughts would've done no good", Marie justified while Callie rummaged through the pizza box, trying to find any leftover slice, "Here, I brought another box in case we needed it", Marie said as she handed her cousin a square box, which she took with a quick and muffled "Thanks!"

-"Well, now that I'm relaxing, could you please tell me what's on your mind?", Callie questioned while Marie seemed to think about the idea.

-"...Alright, but not everything at once, 'kay?", Marie compromised, and Callie quickly agreed, but the words melted at Marie's lips, as she wasn't sure what she wanted to talk about, but after about a minute, she finally blurted out: "I... I always wanted to ask this, but did you... did you ever think I was uncaring, Callie?"

-"Whaaaaat?! Marie, is this a joke or something?", Callie heavily disagreed.

-"No, well, maybe? I don't know, but you really seemed mad at me during the Naughty vs Nice Splatfest, remember? Or during the Night Owl vs Early Bird Splatfest? Forget about those two, I always felt that things got a bit too heated whenever one of us argued about a Splatfest in general...", Marie reminded her, and she seemed to be absorbed in her thoughts for a minute.

-"It wasn't like _that_ , it was... well, like now, just a few things I needed to get off my chest, y'know? I just benefited off the idea that the "Naughty" theme would justify my words and overreacted a bit...And I think the same could go for the other times we clashed, it's just that we, well... we overreacted sometimes, sure, but that's usual between two people as close as we were, y'know?", she muttered in a tone that was unlike her usual one; it was more... calm and mature. "Just listen to me, Marie, we're The Squid Sisters, and you'll never doubt that, you hear me? You can't, we were always together, and we will always be, I promise ya'. Also, who am I supposed to have snark at me if you don't?", Callie said while holding Marie's hand, who just smiled for a while.

-"Such wise words coming from you tonight, Cal."

-"I learnt from the best, remember? You used to tell me that all the time when we were still getting known in Inkopolis.", Callie replied with a large smile that turned into a frown as she realized she had finished the second pizza box. "Also, I wanted to ask, why call me 'Cal', tonight?", but Marie shrugged.

-"I dunno... it just happened and I rolled with it. Also, here you go.", she answered as she handed her cousin a jar of peanut butter, she loved these things, and her love for them hadn't fettered in the time period she was away from Inkopolis, as evidenced by her massive scream of happiness that was followed by a hug.

-"Rolled with it? I would've thought you... _Charged_ with it.", Callie punned and Marie groaned, if she needed any confirmation that this was the Callie she knew and loved, then this would be enough of a confirmation. Their chat was interrupted with a massive sniff that came from behind them, as there was only one available suspect, both squids turned their heads towards the purple octopus inside the globe.

-"What? It's just my allergy acting up again.", he said in an unconvincing voice. "I think it might be an allergy against memories...", he said with a slightly shaken voice, and the three of them shared a laugh.

A moment of silence had passed and the three looked at the stars, they were truly shining tonight, and Callie yelled all of sudden:

-"Hey look! A comet! Quick, everyone, make a wish!", she said and Marie knew exactly what she was wishing for, but when she spoke out, she discovered that both she and Callie said in one voice:

-"I wish that we stay together for our entire lives.", and Callie looked at Marie with a smile.

-"You're such a softie tonight, Marie!", she teased and Marie tried to muster her most profreshional voice:

-"Technically, we're all softies here, unless Sheldon somehow snuck in.", she protested and Callie laughed before taking a spoonful of her peanut butter jar.

-"You know Marie, for as much as I protested at first, this place is really relaxing.", she said while gazing at the stars.

-"Agreed, it's such a nice thing to be free from one's responsibility here",it was Octavio who spoke up this time.

-"Free from one's responsibilities?", Marie repeated with a puzzled voice, she understood that Callie was under constant pressure because of her tight schedule, just how many different lines she needed to memorize because of how many shows she starred in and how she had some stage fright, but Octavio? What could he be relaxing from?

-"Yeah, did you truly think that life as the leader of the Octarians is so simple? I have to manage our limited resources, I need to keep my people's hopes up, I have to announce the many splats that happen every day due to the issues in the kettles, and I keep my people from waging war by calming them down and trying to show them that we're still capable on our own and don't need to resort to large-scale violence.", he explained while Marie gave him an interested look and Callie emitted an intrigued sound.

-"That's... an interesting thing to know... and you _are_ **the** leader of The Octarians, evidently.", Marie said with great confusion, she never knew about these things before, "Also, "the many splats that happen every day"?", she asked.

-"Yeah... life down there has its issues, especially because of the power issues, until the beginning of this year, it would've been considered a miracle that a day passes without splats; a machine that's holding heavy rocks undergoes a two second long power loss and splat goes the octopus...", he spoke with a somber tone, "And respawn machines are very rare, and mostly available in the big cities, as they require a tremendous amount of power...", he finished his sentence while Marie took in that bit of information and looked at him with a horrified expression, likewise, Callie's reaction was very similar.

-"I'm... that's... horrible, but what happened in the beginning of this year?", she questioned, but Octavio dodged the question.

-"That's a bit of a long story.", was all he said, "The stars are really pretty tonight. They remind me of my days before the... The...", he tried to say, but he suddenly gasped for air continuously, and Marie stared at him for a while, in spite of the darkness, she saw something in his eyes, something like a recollection, that thought didn't last for long, however, as Octavio suddenly yelled:

-"No! Cuttle... You... I... Rainmaker! Down! We shall never surrender to you... No... The... The War...", he finally calmed down after speaking that last word, still continuously gasping. Marie gave Callie a look and she responded with a "What-do-you-want-me-to-do" motion, so Marie finally mustered enough courage to ask him:

-"Hey... is everything alright?"

-"...I wish it were.", he finally answered.

Marie remained silent and returned to Callie, trying to resume their chat and ignoring the sudden flashback Octavio had, but when she turned to Callie, the pink idol shifted her gaze between her and Octavio, before speaking to Marie:

-"Can we ask him about what just happened?", the long tentacled squid asked with interest, and Marie gave her a head tilt.

-"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

-"Well... I just don't know him too well? I mean, you know what to say better than I do...Please?", she begged with her puppy eyes, and Marie sighed before turning to Octavio to ask him what just happened, only for Callie to jump into her couch and sit next to her, trying to get a front-seat view.

-"Hey, Octavio, could you tell us what happened?", Marie finally said to a more composed Octavio.

-"Nothing, I just... I just had a moment and thought about the old days for a moment.", he said, but Marie was unconvinced.

-"So, care to tell us about those "old days"?", she asked before following up, "And gramps already told us about his war-stories, so we're not too young or anything, if that's what you're worried about.", she finished, but Octavio glared.

-"It's not that you're too young, it's that remembering these things isn't fun!", he yelled and Marie had a tiny sting of guilt, that last sentence just came out a little too insensitive, "But... if this night is anything to go by, it seems getting things off one's chest is very relieving... Maybe I'll try it, but if at any point you'd like me to stop..."

-"We'll tell ya'. Alright, I think we're ready to hear this.", Marie said, and Octavio took a deep breath while Callie held onto her arm; she always did that when she was excited or nervous.

-"At the beginning of The Great Turf War, we Octarians had a small upper hand gained due to the fact that we launched a surprise maneuver, and you Inklings had a really hard time waking up early... I think it's genetic-", he began to recount his memories, pointing to Marie with that last sentence before she interrupted.

-"Okay, first of all, I'm a night owl, show me an Octoling that can stay up until 3 in the morning! And why'd you attack, anyways? Couldn't you have resorted to diplomacy instead of starting the war?", Marie interrupted and Octavio turned to face her completely.

-"First interruption, folks! The first of many to come!". he announced with a low-pitched tone before resuming, "Did you truly think we simply attacked for no good reason? Or is that what you were taught? Because it wasn't as straightforward as that... it was more personal than anything.", Octavio spoke with an accusing tone, and Marie got on the defensive:

-"Alright, Mr. I-Know-Things-You-Don't, care to share your oh-so-vast knowledge with us? And what is it that happened that changed your relationship with us from "Pretty good" to "It's personal"?", Marie nearly stood up from her couch, if not for the fact that Callie was hanging onto her arm. That, and that she had already gotten used to how soft and warm her couch was. Instead of replying, Octavio seemed to have another recollection, although this time far more violent, as he started hitting his head while mumbling:

-"NoNONO! I don't want to remember! Please! Keep the memories away! I don't want to remember The D-d-dee- ahhh! I can't do this!", he said before gasping again for air, "I did it... I didn't remember...", he finally spoke out with an oddly triumphant tone, while Marie stared at him with a look of disapproval mixed with interest.

-"Listen, could you tell me what happened right now before we continue anything?" Because frankly you're freaking out Callie," she noted as Callie's grip around her arm got tighter and she huddled closer," And I would like to know what happened that I'm unaware of.", she finished.

-"I'm sorry, but those memories are... suppressed, if that's the proper way to put it. But it wasn't pretty. Maybe later, I don't know, but please, I don't want to remember... not again.", he pleaded, and Marie raised her eyebrows, Octavio, while trying to maintain a polite cover until the last few minutes, never resorted to begging, mostly asking and ordering, as she'd expected from an Octarian leader, so seeing him in this state was a shock of sorts.

-"...Alright, I won't push your buttons, but from what you're saying, it was a personal insult? Or was it far worse?", Marie wondered and Octavio shook his head again before responding.

-"Take it all the way up to eleven, Marie.", he said, and Marie noticed that he called her by her name, it probably was of no importance, but it still surprised her.

-"That I will. Can we continue?", Marie obeyed and Octavio continued before being stopped by a large "slurp", it seemed Callie was really getting into this conversation, because she had been unconsciously eating her peanut butter for the last five minutes, her cousin wondered why she's so silent, as she would've wanted Callie to talk instead so that the stress doesn't pile up on her alone, but she attributed it to her being focused on what was being said.

-"Where were we again? Right, the beginning of The War, right before it, we had amicable relations with you Inklings, and I assume you know that Cuttlefish and I personally knew each-other.", he said and they both briefly nodded "So starting The War was a hard choice, or so I've heard, anyways.", he admitted and before Marie could ask the question, he answered, as if he read her mind, "At the time, I wasn't a big leader or anything,I wasn't even a leader, so most of the information I had on that crucial decision came from books and from the words of their assistants, who were very loyal to them."

-"So if you weren't a leader... where were you during the war?", a confused Marie asked and Octavio looked at the ground before responding with a whisper:

-"Well... right before The War I was in the... y'know,", he tried referencing, and Marie understood it was the event he wanted to forget, so she informed Callie of what his "y'know" meant, and the pink squid muttered a "uh-huh", and she motioned to Octavio so that he'd continue, "And when The War started, I was brought in with millions of other Octarians and recruited, unlike Cuttlefish, who was unmatched with shooters and quite skilled with most other available weapons, I had no idea on how to _operate_ the freaking things, and I was pushed into a training course for two weeks. Well, I say two, it was only supposed to be one, but I wasn't much of a fast learner, in addition, I took learning how to operate heavy ink-weaponry, something only elites knew how to do at the time.", he started recounting and Callie stared with awe; it was extremely exciting for her to hear these stories from someone else's perspective, and Marie silently agreed with her before asking:

-"Wait... so what _did_ you do before being recruited?", Marie always thought that Octavio worked in the army for his entire life, if nothing else, it was what her grandfather's stories led her to believe; he always talked about how ferocious Octavio was during the war, "And what exactly do you mean by "Heavy ink-weaponry"?".

-"Before The War I was...uh... please don't tell anyone about this, but I was an assistant for some politician, I was interning under his mentorship so that I may take his place after him, as he was pretty old, even by my standards!", he joked and Marie gave a forced laugh to not make him feel bad, but he caught its 'fake-ness' and stopped laughing, "I was interested in the arts, but that's another story.", he added before returning to Marie's second question, "At the time, heavy ink-weaponry were things like splatings, Rainmakers and Inkzookas, the few weapons that could turn the tide of a battle..."

-"Rainmakers? I always thought these things left you wide open for attacks, not to mention they glow when they're being fired.", Marie commented on Octavio statement, as she didn't quite agree that these things could change a war, as her unfortunate experiences with them led her to believe.

-"Oh, trust me, when you actually have a strategy that is executed perfectly in a battle, it doesn't matter how open you are, and most Inklings were smart enough at the time to use the thing in close quarters so that we Octarians wouldn't have enough time to turn back.", he countered and Marie remained silent before Callie finally spoke up for the first time to Octavio:

-"And why didn't you use your Rainmakers?", she asked so fast that Octavio barely heard her, but when he did, he looked at her with disappointment.

-"I would've thought you Inklings were taught about the fact that while we were far more advanced in the large weapons category, you were always two steps ahead with smaller ones, especially because of that bumbling horseshoe crab... what was his name again? Ammoses Shellendorf? He was natural with tinkering, and I heard he put his two cents when Rainmakers were still being conceptualized.", he said with great annoyance, almost spitting at the name.

-"Sheldon's gramps?", Marie asked, she knew that he helped her grandfather in the war, just not to the point that Octavio would despise him for it.

-"Oh, good, he left a grand-son, that's just what I needed.", the purple invertebrate angrily exclaimed before sighing and taking a deep breath,"Sorry, I just needed to calm down, that was a bit unnecessary on my part. Moving on,", he continued and Marie kept her eyes on him, "When I arrived to the squad I was assigned to, we were crushing the Inklings, so everyone's spirits were up, and in spite of the fact that I was a green bean while everyone else in my team had at least seen a battle or two, they still gave me a decent welcome party, mostly because of the whole 'heavy weapons operation' certificate I had at the time. Of course, there was a small shock; my squad was actually a relatively small group of infantry soldiers, and when I had arrived, we only had a sergeant left to command us, as the general that was commanding us was moved to a larger unit that had its general splatted, or maybe he was captured... can't quite remember, anyways, the realization that I was basically a last-class soldier hit hard, but my mates helped me get on my tentacles, and we started building a bond together, we did!", he gave a hearty laugh and Marie couldn't help but ask:

-"Last class soldier? Gramps talked about you as if you were a one-man army!", she exclaimed and Octavio seemed unbelieving before a moment had passed.

-"All in time, we'll get there eventually,", he promised and Marie returned to her silence while Callie swallowed another spoonful of peanut butter and Octavio continued,"After a few days we were called to the front lines, and I tried my hand there, it was... well, I wouldn't say unsuccessful, but I nearly hit my folks a couple of time with an early model of a hydra; these things were unstable, but I got a couple of splats along the way too, so I felt like I was doing something!...I also felt horrible just a few seconds later because I _splatted someone who probably wasn't connected to a respawn machine_.", he said with a large tinge of guilt in his voice, and Marie continued for him:

-"...Because at the time, respawn machines only remembered your imprint for three days, which was only useful if you were in the squad that carried the machine itself, not to mention that it could only remember a couple of thousand people at a time, which was basically nothing in comparison to how many people were in a squad.", she repeated what her grandfather had told her and Callie more than once while remembering his days as a fighter, and Octavio nodded.

-"I see Cuttlefish taught you well. Well, there was an additional issue on our end, we Octarians had this idea that if you weren't in a 30 Kilometer radius near the machine, your imprint would be erased in favor of nearer soldiers who weren't memorized, so even if you managed to find a large outpost and imprint yourself to a machine, your chances would've been pretty slim to remain imprinted in the machine, as larger outposts would get attacked pretty much daily, and they definitely needed their soldiers and commanders to be imprinted more than a couple of nobodies like us."

-"Still, considering you're not splatted, I'd say you did pretty well for a bunch of nobodies.", Marie commented with a smirk, and Octavio returned it with a victorious expression.

-"Yeah, my squad cheered me up after my less-than-stellar performance at my first battle, with their help, I steadily improved my aim, and after about a month I was able to utilize Inkzookas and splatlings with above-average performance, I still had issues with Rainmakers, as the only way we'd get one in our small squad was stealing them off splatted Inklings, and most of time they'd ruin them before we got our hands on them, but after about a year after The War had started, we were all fairly certain we were going to win; our Mighty Octo-Weapons had reached your strongholds, and we were just a few kilometers away from breaking into Inkopolis, the place where you researched the many different weapons with Shellendorf-", Octavio narrated with a somber tone nearing the end, and Marie completed his sentence.

-"Before the un-plug accident."

-"Yeah. Poor guy, he was just so excited to enter his first battle that he tripped over the power sockets of our Mighty Octo-Weapons and didn't bother to re-plug them. Who could've blamed him? They looked like any regular power socket, but still, it was a mistake that cost us The War, alongside many fine men who were being covered by The Mighty Octo-Weapons. He still can't forgive himself, and the fact that the entire underground sees him as a prime reason for why we lost has pushed him down a deep hole of disorders.", Octavio added while shaking his head in sorrow.

-"He's still up and running?!", Marie yelled out involuntarily, startling both Callie and Octavio.

-"Yeah? Guy's a dozen years younger than me, not that it means much now, mind you,", he said while noticing that Marie and Callie exchanged a quiet laugh, "But at the time he was still, what, 16? I was 20-something at the time, and I was crushed by the news, alongside everyone else in my squad, I couldn't possibly imagine how he felt knowing that he caused the issue. Nevertheless, our sergeant kept trying to motivate us through those hard times, telling us how far we've made it, how we are so close to Inkopolis, and how we've accomplished what many other, better equipped squads weren't able to achieve, sheer luck or not, it was admirable, he said, and he told us to keep pushing towards the city. Now, we were all certain that the outcome of The War wasn't going to be completely positive, especially for us Octarians, but we simply couldn't refuse his orders, not when he put them that way... That was when we encountered your old man's group.", he told, greatly emphasizing on the last sentence, and the two young squids in front of him widened their eyes in anticipation, the two were aching to know what their grand-father was like from Octavio's point of view.

-"It seemed slightly poetic at the time, actually,", the purple cephalopod confessed, "A group of nobodies facing The Squidbeak Splatoon, which was something of a legend at the time, standing your ground against it meant you were either extremely capable, or extremely suicidal. We were probably a mixture of both, as the year we spent battling made us learn quite a lot of skills, but we were still fairly scared when we saw Cuttlefish's cap, it was like a sign of disaster for us Octarians.", he started mumbling with a shaky voice, "Our sergeant told us to push forward, that we either serve our people, or get splatted trying, we were all pretty certain that the second choice is likelier, especially when we saw that he had Rainmaker troops, but we had spent our lives at The War taking risks, what's the worse that could've happened?", he rhetorically asked, and Marie and Callie spoke in one voice:

-"Jinxed it, didn't you?"

-"We did. Somehow during our battle, Cuttlefish devised a plan to make us push forward then flank us from the back, and he succeeded, leading us into a maze of rocks, where Rainmaker wielders could see us, but we couldn't see them. It was one of the worst situations in my life, I remember that we could only hear the shots, and whenever they'd fire, one of us would scream "Rainmaker! Down!" and we'd duck, hoping that they'd miss us, I had several shots just go over my head, and with great difficulty, almost all of us made it out of the maze, only to be greeted with close-quarters Rainmaker fights, and everything devolved into chaos; they opened fire immediately, and we instinctively dived in our ink, which made some of us become easy targets, I ran for a Rainmaker that was on the ground, and didn't notice that I was being targeted by four soldiers, two of them were Rainmaker wielders, no less. At that moment, I gave up. I closed my eyes and said to myself that this is the end, before someone pushed me from the back. My sergeant.", he recalled with great difficulty, stuttering every now and again, and getting very shaky with the last sentence, Callie and Marie remained completely silent; they were enthralled by his stories, and Marie realized why Octavio seemed completely distraught when Agent 4 came after him with a Rainmaker.

-"I don't know what happened afterwards. I saw his headpiece and brush fall and I realized he was gone, and then something took a hold of me... Maybe it was fear, maybe anger, maybe even my fight or flight instinct, but I remember picking up his brush and then just _splatting_. I got the first Rainmaker operator by sheer surprise and threw the brush at the second one, then I held the first one's weapon and slammed a nearby soldier with it, then I just blanked out momentarily, and when I came back, I was charging a fully charged shot against the second non-Rainmaker soldier, and I fired. I'm not fully aware of what happened, but I saw your grandfather immediately after, he was both impressed and horrified, it seemed, and I yelled something at him. I don't even know what it was, but it was probably cheesy as all heck.", he continued, "I then bailed out and regrouped with my squad. They were fairly pleased with themselves; we got a decent number of Squidbeak members with minimal losses, so as you could expect, they were all shocked when I told them about our sergeant.", and Marie interrupted him suddenly.

-"It was then they made you their sergeant, wasn't it? Gramps told me that you had a fancier headpiece when he saw you next time. And you planned on heading to Inkopolis.", she finished for him and he replied with a "Yeah". She started liking how many times Cap'n Cuttlefish told her his stories, it made her start anticipating the next event.

-"It was a very abrupt decision. I just wanted to honor his final wish, and I had no experience leading anything or anyone before, but my group seemed to agree on the idea, and we pushed forward towards Inkopolis, but we had one last stronghold in our path before we'd be able to enter Inkopolis, The Arowana Castle.", he finished with a shudder, and Marie knew exactly why he shuddered; it was at The Castle that they had lost the battle with their gramps.

-"Winter started to make its mark and there was rain, but my entire squad was depending on me, so we headed out and paid no regards to the weather, but I didn't want to battle... I was far too afraid that I'd lose soldiers, as they were my responsibility at the time, and I wasn't going to be able to handle the idea, so I thought that diplomacy could be the answer to avoid the entire ordeal, we were losing The War anyways, I thought that Cuttlefish would agree to letting us turn back and that after that we'd siege any nearby city and call it a day before joining our brethren who were being forced into retreating.", he said while Marie kept a skeptical look on her face, her grandfather never told her that Octavio tried being diplomatic in The Castle, and the purple octopus noticed her look, and he sighed before returning to his story:

-"When we entered The Arowana Castle, your old man had made it a mission to fortify the place; there were Chargers everywhere on the upper floors, and the lower ones had a mixture of Rollers and Splattershots; the newest in their lines at the time, and I spied one Inkzooka ready to fire, luckily we had a white flag up, and while many disagreed with my decision, I tried talking with The Second Lieutenant, I reminded him of our past friendship, asked him to let us go without attacking any of my men, I told him that while we might attack some towns, we would not take any souls with us, and I told him that it was an honor to fight against him, then waited for an answer.", he recounted, and Marie spoke up after he remained silent.

-"And did he reply?", she asked, but instead of talking, Octavio nodded and showed her one of his tentacles, one that he'd rarely use, his second left-upper one, and it started to cave in, as if their previous form was just a bunch of paint, and some scars started showing, they were long short and scattered alongside his tentacle, there were also many stitch marks, alongside a strange coloration of blue and yellow,"It's a technique I learnt during The War; it was useful for covering our injuries and not making the enemy think we're weak", and while the two young squids were busy admiring his tentacle, he commented:

-"A very clear answer, I'd say. He fired at my Octoling form's hand and I was launched backwards. His soldiers followed suit with my men, but I was far too shocked to yell out orders or even move myself, even when my injury was minor, I heard multiple screams coming from my men, but I wasn't able to make them out, then The Splatoon started moving forward, and we threw our splat bombs-"

-"Which, at the time, functioned very dangerously compared to the current ones, as they heated up the compressed ink so that it expands and blows up, as opposed to the current ones having compressing devices that stop when they're thrown and let the compressed ink expand on its own.", Marie continued for him, she was enjoying this idea of continuing his sentences.

-"True that is. Only, our thermo-regulators got busted because of the rain, and _boiled_ the ink instead, which released a very hot gas into the air, not to mention leaving boiling puddles of ink, and it confused your old man's soldiers, it did! They all thought that it was simply malfunction on our end and got scolded! Shellendork even fell face-first into one! I saw them dragging him out, but considering the fact that I never heard from him since, I'd say that we did a number on his life expectancy!", Octavio cackled maniacally, Marie gave him a glare of disapproval while Callie stared in horror.

-"We do _NOT_ talk about the victims of the war like that!", she yelled and Octavio struggled to stop laughing, in spite of the fact that he had a look of agreement drawn on his face.

-"I'm-hah!, Sorry, I just... it seemed very funny at the time, and I can't help but laugh whenever I remember the event...", he justified, but Marie kept her accusing glace, "Afterwards, my men dragged me to my feet, and I started hurling orders left and right, mostly sticking to the busted bombs as a strategy, at the time, they functioned as a very early prototype version of Disruptors and Toxic Mists, which weren't even conceptualized back then, so having a weapon the enemy didn't have was an extremely welcome surprise. Anyways, I managed to flood The Castle with mist, and under its guise, we made it out. When I regrouped with my squad, I counted them, and I had almost half of my men wiped out. My attempt at losing the least amount of men only lead me to losing half of my friends.", he concluded with an extremely shaken voice, and after a few minutes of silence, Callie spoke up, much to Marie's surprise.

-"I can't believe it... I thought gramps was a hero...", she mumbled in an unbelieving tone, but Octavio strongly disagreed.

-"Craig _is_ a hero!", he insisted before adding, "An _Inkling_ hero.", he said with a bitter tone, "Had he not stopped us, we would've sieged a nearby town and caused massive damages, it was my mistake; I was far too naive and forgot that all is fair in love and war.", he ended with grief.

-"I'm guessing the next thing that happened was your siege on Inkopia.", Marie deduced.

-"Yeah, it was just in a fit of anger, we didn't even splat anyone, and it was a small city, we merely cut the power cords, destroyed a power station and tinkered with a Rainmaker storage unit...", he finished with a small mischievous smile, and Marie returned it while grumbling:

-"I'm guessing your master-tier tinkering is what caused Rainmakers used during the last battle against the Octarians to blow up in the hands of their users?", Marie asked with a look of blame.

-"Eh, what do I know, I only operate the stuff, not fix them.", he replied while shrugging, "A few days later, we received a telegram from the higher ups to inform us that we lost The War.", he resumed with sadness, "We were crushed, but we followed the orders to reunite with our fellow Octarians in a last stand against the Inklings, in The Battle Of The Hole. Admittedly, it was a horrible name, but it was all we could think of at the time, anyways, when I arrived with my men, the battle was ending, most of the Octarians managed to make it safely to the underground, and the only people left were the commanders, soldiers and a few civilians who were trying to make it into the gaping hole that led to the underground. Apparently, we researched getting into the underground when it was apparent we were fighting a losing battle, but you Inklings didn't let us go without kicking us while we were down and taking some of our finest with you...", he spat with anger before seemingly acknowledging his mistake and apologizing.

-"I'm sorry... you're not the ones I should be mad at...When I arrived there, many commanders and generals were fighting, hoping to be splatted rather than to live in shame because they lost The War, and I was about to head down with everyone else when I saw **him**.", he muttered and Marie knew exactly who he saw, "I couldn't control myself, I just grabbed my brush and lunged at that squid, and we did battle, he was a fierce fighter, dodging most of my clumsy hits and trying to shoot me with his splattershot, but I blanked out again, and I only woke up as I was falling into my new home while he was saluting me, we lost the surface forever, while you Inklings basked in the sun...", Octavio terminated and both squids stared at him for a while.

-"That's a bit dramatic...", Callie uttered, still in shock from Octavio's story.

-"Because it _was_ dramatic!", Octavio shouted, before Marie asked:

-"What happened then?"

-"Bad things, that's what. The surviving Octarians were few, and even then, they were scarred either physically or mentally, or both, and I was no different, we were not useful for anything other than battling, and as such, we were sent on expeditions to explore our new homes. I, alongside everyone else, was unable to comprehend that bit of information, and we remained in shock for months before Victoria managed to gain control.", he answered before continuing his exposition, "Victoria was a brilliant engineer during The War, and while my interactions with her were few, I can tell you right now that she was devoted to her people, and she had a lot on her plate; she needed to re-establish the social rules, the rules, jobs and practically rebuild our nation from scratch, as you'd expect, the process was very difficult, and many years had passed before she was able to even establish jobs and build factories!", he explained in an amazed tone.

-"All that happened while you were on expeditions?", Marie wondered, she always assumed Octavio became the leader of the Octarians the moment they stepped into their kettles.

-"Indeed; my mental state had greatly deteriorated after The War, and I became nothing more than a shell, I tried seeking help, but at the time Victoria had _just_ started medicinal research, and so the doctor described my state as, and I'm quoting him here,:"You're hearing the voices."", Octavio murmured with an unsatisfied voice while the squids in front of him laughed out loud for the first time since he started talking about the war, "So I was sent on, basically, suicide missions alongside my mates from my previous squad, and I think it was for the better that I was unaware of my surroundings then, because my fellow soldiers tell me that I nearly got splatted more than ten times-"

-"Wait, _what_ exactly threatened you? You guys didn't have power issues back then, did you?", Marie questioned and negatively Octavio shook his head.

-"It's not that, but the underground has some... strange wildlife that we had to clear in order for the builders to build.", he answered before taking a deep breath,"Anyways, when my mental state went from "Terrible" to "Bad" and I started accepting my life, Victoria passed away. I've never before seen my people so sad, and I've never seen them grieve for someone else as much as they mourned the woman that actually put us on solid footing, without her, the Octarians might as well be extinct.", he stated before remaining silent for a minute, probably mourning for Victoria, Marie thought.

-"After her, Jack Pieuvre was elected by the people; he was a veteran in politics even before The War, he was the politician I was interning under, actually, and I found it hilarious how he reached that position while I was stuck in expedition after expedition.", he gave a long sigh before continuing, "He focused on managing our resources, power supply and improving the living conditions, and while there was a rough period in the beginning of his era, almost everyone can agree that he did some great achievements before joining Victoria, including finding a renewable power source: Water turbines.", he declared and Marie yelled at him:

-" _What?!_ You had a power source for all these years? Then why bother with The Great Zap-", she screamed with all her force; all these attempts squidnapping Inkopolis' power source while they had one already?!

-"Because they weren't enough to satisfy anyone outside the big cities.", he replied dryly, and Marie returned to her silence. "After Jack, the next in line to lead us was Malcom B.Fraid.", he stopped when he noticed that the two squids in front of him were perplexed.

-"Uh...what kind of name is that?", Callie spoke up again, and Octavio looked at the ground.

-"His name gets less confusing when you know that his middle name is Bob, but Fraid was a very popular name in my days. Like DJ, for example.", he whispered and both of them erupted in laughter.

-"That's-Heeeh!-, that's just too good, DJ.", Marie teased and the invertebrate looked unamused.

-"The name meant warrior or monster! It's not my fault it evolved into what it is now!", he sighed before picking up his train of thought, "In any case, Malcom was a fearsome general during The War, and was actually one of the few that faced against Cuttlefish and managed to outsmart him _twice_!", he said while lifting two tentacles to illustrate how much of an impossible feat that was, "...But like every other returning soldier, he was paranoid, he was only elected because of how experienced he was, but he was easily the most controversial of the three when he was first elected. As you could guess, he focused heavily on making our army stronger, he actually pulled me out of my role as Expedition Head at the time and made me a lieutenant, much to my happiness," he added with a vigorous smile and Marie eye-rolled, "And while he had enough common sense to know that he should continue medicinal and civilian research, it was clear to anyone that he was focused on the army; he made it far easier to enter the army the moment you reach 14 years, funded weapon research and conceptualization, and made us War veterans train the new guys.", he narrated with a casual voice tone.

-"So he transformed your country into a military, basically.", Marie objected with a frown, she didn't quite like how B.Fraid sounded.

-"...I wouldn't go that far, but let's just say that after his modifications, a single Octoling with basic training should be able to counter two Inkling soldier, while one with more advanced training could counter five!", he proudly gloated before adding, "Provided I haven't brainwashed them.", and Marie resisted against asking him why he'd brainwash them in the first place if they were that good, since they were obviously able to defend themselves, "He also gave us War veterans more recognition among the new generation that was raised in the kettles, but as everyone comes to an end, so did Malcom, it was a quiet passing, I always thought that he'd get splatted fighting, but fate has the habit of defying expectations. But after his burial, no one was sure what would happen afterwards, and much to my surprise-", he started to say in an eager tone, as if he was anticipating that part before Marie interrupted him yet again.

-"You were brought in."

-"Well, yes, I'm still able to talk, thank you very much," he mumbled and Marie smirked at him, "Anyways, I thought that the difficult part was over, as 15 years ago most of our issues, save the power ones, were gone, our people were mostly satisfied, and I just needed to manage the basic stuff. Or so I've hoped."

-"Wait, what happened now?", Callie asked with a worried tone, it was obvious to Marie that Octavio made her root more for him.

-"After about five years ruling, I realized that my predecessors either didn't have time to deal with creativity or downright ignored it. And this was a _big_ problem, I started finding out about it when the report of how many inventions and weapons we've made in a year came in, and there was a grand total of two inventions, one of which was an improvement to an existing model, and three weapons, all of which were replicas of older weapons, just modified to be better.", he explained and Marie asked:

-"But if you didn't have creativity, how did you live in the past years?"

-"Because the older octopuses had creativity, the younger ones who were raised in a very job-based world didn't quite have it. Here, allow me to demonstrate how bad our situation was,", he offered and Marie listened, "Your couch is probably more creative than an average Octoling 10 years ago.", he stated and Marie closed her eyes for a while to process the fact before finally responding:

-"That's terrible."

-"Oh, believe me, it was. I even brought my leading researcher and engineer and asked them to draw a wasabi to see how much effort I was going to have to offer. They needed 12 hours, the engineer passed out three times because she was the one drawing, and in the end they drew a black square.", he groaned with displeasure as Callie and Marie weren't able to hold back their laughter.

-"I was so dumbfounded that I nearly quit my position because I wasn't able to deal with that. Until I realized that I was offered the position because everyone else who was capable of handling it wasn't here anymore. Besides, I felt that backing out when my people needed me most was a cowardly move, so I did the only logical thing: I played them music.", he concluded and Marie smiled a little; Octavio did mention he was interested in the arts.

-"At first my rhythm was not perfect, and since everyone else who knew how to make music had passed away, so I needed to learn from someone else: Inklings.", he choked on that last word, and Marie couldn't help but tease him:

-"So is that a confession that we were always better at music?", she asked with a large smile, which Octavio didn't quite appreciate.

-"If nothing else, know that it takes true courage to admit these things. In any case, I managed to make it out undercover and headed to the Calamari County, hoping to find some of the traditional songs we sang back there when we still dwelled with you. I found one, and after spending a while learning how to actually understand music, I headed back for my people, and I played them my spicy wasabi beats.", he finished and Callie cheered up:

-"Well, does that mean your creativity problem was solved?"

-"Not really, no, I asked them to make their own music and for a few months, all the music available was basically a carbon copy of the song I played.", he confessed and Callie pouted before he followed up, "But one day, the impossible happened, and a passionate Octoling remixed my song! Following in his steps, many Octolings started their own remixes and in about two years, there was actually new music in our kettles!" he happily announced and Callie squealed, making him jolt for a second.

-"Uh... thanks for being considerate of us?", he thanked her with an unsure tone, "But my mission was far from over, because that was _one_ form of art dealt with, things such as painting and writing were next in line on my schedule, I thought that if I managed to spark their passion in the Octarians, then they'll be able to do the rest on their own. So I offered them the only thing I could offer: My privacy.", he announced and Marie gave him a weird look:

-"Uh... explanation, please?", she asked, completely dumbfounded; how would showing them Octavio's private life make them more creative?

-"You see, during The War we were taught how to draw ourselves, y'know, in case we were deformed beyond belief and the medics needed a picture of how we looked, so I drew a picture of my Octoling and octopus form and showed it to them, then hoped for the best. Directly after that, I picked five Octolings who had the talent of quickly writing and instructed them to follow me around in my home then make summaries of my daily life and post them on The Inkternet.", he explained, and Marie failed to understand how that helped before he continued, "As you'd expect, the first few months were disappointing, they drew pictures, yes, but they were all carbon copies of my original, and the whole "summary of my daily life" only made me realize how mundane my life was. Until that magic moment where a bold Octoling made a small change to her drawing style while copying my original self-portrait, I was so happy that I made a nation-wide celebration, and that was exactly what they needed: Motivation. I should've figured it out sooner, but it never occured to me that giving them prizes would make them try harder, because just two weeks after the celebration, one of my writers decided to make his summaries of my daily life just get a bit livlier and more adjectif-filled, and many others on the Inkternet followed in his steps, and I had received modified portraits of me in _spades_. Needless to say, it was a success.", he got teary-eyed as a large smile started blooming on his face, not directing his words to anyone in particular.

-"And how did things progress afterwards?", Marie asked while also smiling, goodness, smiles were infectious.

-"Of course, acting and animation were two fruits of my attempts, but I was always in the center of attention; while there were original works like landscape portraits and such, at least 75% of the writing and drawing in the kettles were things involving me; a story where I and Cuttlefish swapped bodies in The War and experience each other's lives, a drawing of me as a pirate, a story where I was a chef that made great recipes before engaging in a food-war against The Inklings and winning... in fact, there's currently an ongoing comic there that depicts me as a cowboy! I really like that one," he said before impersonating a scene in it, ""This town ain't big enough for the two of us, Cuttl'fish, and it's high noon, 'know what that means?"", he quoted before following with a barrage of "Pew pew pews", and the squid Idols in front of him chuckled at his acting.

-"Still, sometimes being in the center of attention became a bit much, especially since some bolder Octolings in the Inkternet took some interesting... _creative liberties_ , let's put it that way." he admitted while blushing and Marie widened her eyes in horror, but Callie seemed completely oblivious to her cousin's terror.

-"Wait... isn't that what you wanted? More creativity?", she scratched her chin curiously and Marie patted her head while laughing, but Callie remained unable to understand what she was missing.

-"So my people's morale was rising, their work efficiency was rising, and the numbers of Octolings in the army was increasing, what could've possibly ruined all of this? The fact that they wanted payback.", Octavio menaced, "The newer generation was convinced that they'd be able to take on the Inklings, and while I didn't doubt them, I just wanted to avoid all that pain happening again, so I convinced them that I could do it on my own, and I stole The Great Zapfish. It wasn't all that difficult, mostly because all of you were sleeping.", he joked, but Marie didn't quite approve, and reminded him of their victory over him:

-"Still, we kicked your butt back there _and_ retrieved The Great Zapfish, and that must've hurt their morale."

-"Oh, it did, so much in fact, that I felt they were starting to lose their creativity again, and I couldn't ever let that happen again, so I adopted a newer personality; the Octarians needed someone to look up to, someone that was livelier than all of them, someone that gave them hope and made them feel as if we were winning even if we were losing. And as such, I molded myself differently to satisfy them, and so was born the me you've fought,", he narrated and Marie suddenly had a sort epiphany to why this Octavio was far more... mature than the one she knew, it was all an act, one to motivate his people, if nothing else, she greatly admired that he was willing to completely change himself in order to appease his people.

-"But your next step after that was to start brainwashing your soldiers with music, care to explain why?", Marie accused, but unlike last time, Octavio seemed like he had come to terms with what he was doing, sort of, he greatly shuddered, but he didn't erupt into a massive "No!", hooray for progress, she thought.

-"I already told you, it was to protect them. There are things that, when discovered, could end their lives in an instant, Kamabo being one of them.", he replied, trying to be as calm as possible, but Marie could sense some blame and guilt in his voice. Callie simply shifted her gaze between the two of them, while she looked fairly clumsy (and it wasn't a wrong assumption, mind you), her memory was impossibly strong, and Marie was certain she remembered what she was told about the conversation Marie and Octavio had right before she returned.

-"Right, right.", she mumbled against her will; while she was getting splatted to ask him who or what this fearsome 'Kamabo' _is_ in the first place, she did want to hear him finish his story without getting mad or changing subjects, which she was pulled into like flies get pulled into a fly trap.

-"Following my return to the underground, I noticed that my people were expecting another raid on The Great Zapfish, which left me shocked; I would've thought they'd be satisfied with what we did in The Caverns, but they wanted more, and so I searched for somewhere that was already falling apart, so that when I inevitably lose my battle against you two my people wouldn't get crushed emotionally about losing this terrain.", he said in an irritated tone, and Marie followed up immediately:

-"When you inevitably lose your battle? Are you trying to justify the fact that we kicked your bottom by saying it was intentional, big octopus?", Marie interrogated and Octavio responded with an "eh".

-"Well, while you two and your Agents were remarkable in battle, I'd say that all my experience from The War would give me a slight edge, if nothing more,", Octavio praised the two and Marie made an overly dramatic pose of honor, which made her cousin snicker loudly, "But even if I was winning, I'd be forced to make myself lose, mostly because winning would make the Octarians believe that they can take you Inklings on, and that would lead to a full scale war, I prefer having them demoralised than making them wage a war.", he admitted and Marie gave him the skeptical eye, she wasn't completely sold on the fact that Octavio could actually stand up to them, but he continued his speech before she had time to object.

-"Anyways, with my people wanting another raid, I obeyed, knowing that you two will probably show up again to stop me in some sort of dramatic battle, but when I entered The Valley with The Great Zapfish, all they responded with was a "That's it?", as you'd expect I asked them what they wanted, and they answered with something I hoped they would never say; they wanted a high profile Inkling hostage, to prove that we were able to infiltrate your capital.", he told to an absolutely unhappy Marie, as she knew that his next step following that exchange was squidnap their grandfather.

-"I wanted to back down, Marie, I truly did, but I feared that they'd not trust me anymore, and so I headed to your old man as a last resort,", he apologized while the two squids in front of him gave him an angry look, "Squidnapping him turned out to be a piece of cake, actually, considering his physique was absolutely _gone_ , and I won't sit here and pretend that mine's perfect, but I at least have some muscles left in me, so I literally grabbed him and put him over my shoulder before returning to my lair, and I waited for you two to visit me, but instead I got intruded on by a silent fella. One with a horrible sense of humor, no less.", Octavio complained; it was true that Agent 3 was the least talkative person Marie had ever seen, he always remained silent and mostly listened to the orders given to him, and even though he was pretty expressive, she only ever heard him talk once, and that was to say how much it hurt having her step over his toes.

-"The battle wasn't much to be honest, I used a remix of my first hit in the kettles and threw as many cheesy lines as possible because I was actually broadcasting the fight _live_ , since I wanted to show them that I tried my best yet got thrown off my ship by Agent 3's enormous force, not because I tripped on purpose or anything," he sarcastically narrated, "Then I heard it. The most beautiful thing to ever grace my ears. I was being blessed, and I had two angelic voices singing to me; you had infiltrated my speakers, and I couldn't have been happier, I dazed out of the fight and focused on your song, the best thing I've ever heard in my lifetime, and I started noticing that the young rascal actually started doing a number on my ship, but I didn't care, I let him do what he pleased, for I was already more than satisfied. I've been your biggest fan ever since. Alongside every single Octarian that watched my broadcast.", he said enthusiastically and the two Idols in front of him seemed flustered.

-"Uh... that's a bit too much, don't you think, big octopus?", Marie asked with uncertainty, she was far too nervous with how much adoration Octavio spoke of them and their singing.

-"Not in the slightest."

-"Well, I appreciate how much you like us and all... but tone it down a bit, yeah?". Marie ordered, still not keen on Octavio's far-too-happy smile and expression.

-"Anything for you,", he winked, "Well, following my transformation into the number 1 Squid Sisters fan, I realized that the amazing voices singing were ones I was familiar with, and it dawned on me: I have become my biggest rivals' biggest fan. And I accepted that fact with _pride_.", he declared, and Marie gave him a smirk before adding.

-"You sure? Because I could've sworn you were our biggest air conditioner.", she joked and Callie gasped loudly, unable to believe what her partner just uttered, before giggling uncontrollably.

-"Something along those lines. It wasn't all fun and games though, because soon after I realized the amazing-ness of your song made some Octolings wake up from my brainwashing, and I realized that they'd escape the underground...", he started calming down and re-entering his usual tone, something the two younger squids in front of him weren't too excited about, especially with the way his phrase seemed to be going.

-"You're mad because your youngsters made it to the surface while you didn't?", Marie asked, but he strongly rejected the idea.

-"That the stupidest thing I've heard in weeks.", he replied with frustration, "I was the happiest being in the world to know that these young, talented and passionate souls would live a far happier life if they managed to integrate, but I was also the saddest being in the world to know that they probably thought I was a monster who took away their freedom for his own greed, even though I tried to protect them, they'll probably remember me as nothing more than an old man who forced them to fight for him, if they even remember me at all...", he lamented, ending his sentence with a shaken voice before trying to return to his upbeat tone:

-"But I got over myself quickly enough and realized that it didn't matter now, those who left have left and those who stayed have stayed, what was more important to me was spreading the joy that was your music throughout the kettles; so I quickly re-squidnapped your grandfather to pay a quick visit to my people and announced that I will be appointing someone else in my position while spying on my nemesis and his Agents and I said that I will be merely " _pretending"_ to be captured, before managing to gain the rights to buy all of your songs for commercial purposes under the name of "Mr.Squidavio".", he explained and Callie's jaw dropped for a second.

-"So _you're_ the mysterious buyer that was giving us more than 25% of our funds!", she pitched in and he gave a slight nod.

-"In a matter of two years you two **dominated** the underground; many Octolings, myself included, memorized all of your songs by heart, rooted for and against you during Splatfests, which we followed from our secretive TV cable we stole from you and you had flooded 25% of the art, writing and creativity market.", he finally finished before adding, "Oh, and on a more personal note, thank you.", he thanked while Marie was slightly confused.

-"You're welcome, but why thank us?"

-"For saving my people. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to keep them at bay for much longer, and they were definitely going to spark a war, something I think none of us want, when I was losing hope, you two came in and became the biggest Idols there, right behind me,", he reminded while Marie rolled her eyes, Octavio, an Idol, what and idea that'd be. "And with your surge in popularity, many Octolings were against another war, not because they liked Inklings any more, mind you, many still hated your guts, but for the sole reason that The Squid Sisters would probably go into hibernation if a world-wide war was started. I never agreed with the logic, but it saved us a war, didn't it?", he explained and Marie started to see why he'd like them so much, but before she could reply, Callie asked the age-old question:

-"So which one of us is more popular down there?", Marie slumped in her couch at the question; it was something Callie liked to ask to anyone that wasn't from Inkopolis, as if she forgot that their last Splatfest was world-wide, Marie was sure she was just looking for a way to shock her and tell her that she's somehow more popular in some small town, but Marie let her be, it wasn't something huge in any case.

-"...Good question, well, I'd say you two are even, but Callie has more edge over you, Marie,", he announced and Marie tried to hide her dismay, but luckily for her, Octavio continued his sentence, "While they do love you, I did say before that they needed someone lively, someone happy, sweet and someone that can make them feel as if they were winning even if they were losing, and that person was Callie.", he stated as he pointed towards to pink squid.

-"Is that why you squidnapped me?", she said the question so suddenly and so abruptly that, from Octavio's movement, Marie thought he had a miniature heart attack, Callie's voice was small and shy, but it seemed as if it pierced through Octavio completely, and his eyes widened while his gaze shifted between Callie and her cousin.

-"I...I...uh... now...", he tried to say anything, but he seemed to be at a loss for words, and Marie, while completely dumbfounded by the fact that Callie asked the questioned that was on her mind for so long, decided to push Octavio a bit further, to see if she can finally make him talk about why he squidnapped her best friend.

-"Yeah, didn't you say you'd spill the barnacles whenever I ask, pal? Well, I think I want to know now.", she pushed him further, and Octavio seemed to be in a state of perpetual terror, unable to speak a word in spite of the fact that he told _tales_ just 5 minutes ago, but instead of him speaking up, it was Callie:

-"Hold your tentacles, you and Octavio had a deal about this? And you didn't tell me?! Come on, Marie, I was the squidnapped and I still didn't know about that bit of information?", Callie asked with a desperate tone and Marie immediately felt guilt overcome her.

-"I... I just felt that you needed a break, this bit of info could've ruined your day or week, and I didn't want you to remember something that could upset you.", the light green squid justified herself, and Callie seemed to understand.

-"I know that.. it's just that, well, this event is so important to me, y'know?", her cousin exclaimed and Marie stared in confusion before she picked up her sentence, "Ever since I returned I've been having these... dreams? I don't know what to call them, but it feels as if something is wrong, I hear laughter, yells, and I feel that something is dragging me...", she confessed and Marie looked at her in disbelief.

-"Callie! You shouldn't hide these things from me, why didn't you tell me when they were happening?", her cousin demanded, and Callie gave her a shy smile before echoing:

-"It's not that I wanted to _hide_ it, Marie, but I just needed us to relax together, y'know? And telling you these silly thoughts would've done us no good, especially when they were far and few at the time.", the pink squid Idol replied quietly, and Marie smiled in return.

-"Well, now that we're together, could you please tell me what happened?", she calmly interrogated.

-"Well... sure, I'd love to actually.", Callie answered, "At first, I'd have a dream once every week or two, but in the last month or so, they've gotten far more frequent, and I'd have one every other night, in fact, during the day I'd _hear_ things, at first I thought it was grandma telling me that I was a bad squid because I ate all the candy she was hiding in the cabinet, but then they started getting louder and louder, and the voices weren't grandma's...", Callie narrated and Marie barely managed to stop a laugh at Callie's logic, "They've calmed down a lot during the last two weeks, and even when they'd pop up they'd only last for, what, five minutes? So I just paid them no mind. I think the two things that made me realize that I needed to know what happened to me were the fact that my manager told me that while I was still doing great at my performance, he told me that something felt off in my off-time. He didn't know what it was, I didn't know what it was, and I knew that only one person could know.", she said while pointing at Marie, "The second thing that made me want to know what happened, was this.", she concluded before lifting her shirt slightly, showing Marie the area where her stomach was tattooed by Octavio, it was an octopus figure, and the two had realized it was just ink, so they washed it off quickly, but to Marie's grand surprise, something started surfacing up her cousin's skin, it took her a minute, but Marie quickly recognized the same tattoo she had washed off, and she looked back at the pink squid, puzzled.

-"I don't know what it is that's happening. I can make it float back down if I focus," she demonstrated as the same tattoo started being engulfed by her skin, "But it needs my focus to remain submerged. I realized that way early, but with time it just became normal to me, like breathing, and I thought it was normal for tattoos to be like that... until I got one.", Callie admitted and Marie stared in disbelief.

-"You got a tattoo?! Where? Show me!", Marie asked with enthusiasm, she never thought that her cousin of all people would do such a move, until Callie showed her her left arm and the word "Marie" floated up, alongside a small heart. "I love it, but isn't that just regular ink?".

-"Yeah? Isn't that what a tattoo is?", Callie asked and Marie snickered and decided to not tell her that she basically wrote on her arm with ink. "Anyways, when I make this one sink, I never have to think about it ever again, unlike the other one, and it just struck me as something odd, and something that I needed answered... it's the reason why I never wanted to talk to Octavio; I always feared I'd blurt out the question involuntarily, but I thought tonight would be a good time, y'know?", she explained and Marie gave her a pat on the shoulder.

-"You were right. I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark, Cal. Octavio, we both need answers, _now_.", she ordered the still-terrified Octavio with a demanding tone, and he took an extremely long breath before trying to organize the thoughts in his mind so that they don't come out at the wrong time.

-"I... you see, after a few months of me staying with Cuttlefish, I got news that The Octarians were living a good life. At the time, we were trying to trade with these beasties called "Salmonids", while they weren't exceptionally smart, their eggs had power, not that it was strong power, mind you, but we managed to agree that if they'd offer us some of their eggs in return for us assembling their basic, yet very effective, weaponry, of course, there were times where I lost some fine Octolings because the horde was in a bad mood or because they were hungry-", he tried to explain, but Marie cut him off:

-"Are you trying to change the subject? Because I don't see how this helps us at all with Callie's squidnapping!", she hurled at him and he whined before finally speaking again.

-"Okay, fine, look, since you know the drill, I was asked to return because they wanted _another_ raid on The Great Zapfish because their spirits were high, but this time, I was asked to bring one of The Squid Sisters with me.", he said in an agitated tone with quick speed.

-"Calm down, Octavio, we're the only ones listening bedside the stars, so we need to be able to comprehend what you're saying.", Marie commanded and Octavio reluctantly seemed to obey.

-"Being in Cuttlefish Cabin helped me spy on your movements, not that it mattered, the Octarians monitored your every move on TV, and they were crushed with you two's falling apart," he declared and Marie couldn't help but think that she felt the exact same way, "I got out of my globe the moment Craig left, these things aren't particularly sturdy, being made of glass and all,", he mocked as the two squid Idols in front of him pushed their weapons closer to their couches,"And then I looked for Callie in order to try and squidnap her, the original plan was that I was going to replace her sunglasses with my Hypnoshades-"

-"Which you did.", Callie interrupted, but Octavio kept talking as if nothing had happened.

-"And the hypnotisation was going to lead her to the entrance of the underground, I was then going to take Callie and leave an extremely cheesy message in your apartment so that Marie saves her and The Great Zapfish in a heartwarming moment of epic proportions in the span of a week, because I really wasn't up for another month-long raid, these things are exhausting.", he finished with an abrupt stop, and Marie interrogated:

-"But... that didn't happen? You never left the note, did you just forget? What happened exactly?", Marie started to wonder if her month-long adventure was just a simple act that Octavio orchestrated, but the purple octopus closed his eyes before picking up his story.

-"I broadcasted my squidnapping attempt to all the Octarians.", he said in a voice that was overflowing with guilt.

-"So like the last time. What makes this broadcast so important?", Callie wondered.

-"So I told you that we Octarians hate you Inklings, right?", he questioned and the two squids nodded, "Well, there's this... group of Octarians who don't just hate you, they _despise_ your very existence and think that it is wrong.", he announced and Marie almost screamed.

-"No...", she uttered, but Octavio looked at her with sorrow and confirmed her suspicions.

-"Yes. I'm not fully aware of their beliefs, but their numbers are steady, if nothing else, because of the crises that have overcome our people at the moment. I do know however that they are most definitely the major factor that will hinder any peace attempt from our part. They found out about Callie's coordinates and then dragged her down to Kamabo,Co.", he mumbled and Callie shuddered at the name.

-"I'm sorry, don't know what happened to me there...", she apologized and Octavio looked at her with pity.

-"Maybe you remember what they did to you during the two weeks I needed to find you.", he speculated and Marie glared at him.

-"Oh how quick you were.", she sarcastically clapped and he groaned.

-"I tried my best, I really did.", he claimed, but Marie seemed unconvinced, so he returned to finally explaining what Kamabo is.

-"Kamabo is a very complex, strange and massive underground facility that appears to have existed long ago, maybe even before The War, you can only fall there on accident, as I have discovered in an expedition. I, alongside many of my comrades, fell there when I was just recruited as Expedition Head by Jack Pieuvre, I was mostly fine, in spite of the fact that the fall must've been a few kilometers at least, as all of our communications were out of range to contact any help. So we explored the area, and we eventually found a strange device that told us that we were "Special" and that we were chosen to undergo several experiments that would help up figure out "The greater good". We weren't in a position to make demands, so we agreed. It was then we made the worst decision of our lives.", he shuddered and both Marie and Callie listened very carefully, as they wanted to know about this mysterious company.

-"We were then mounted on a metro that joins the facilities together and introduced to "Sullyvahn" C.Q. Cumber.", he spat, with his purple face turning into a shade of pink.

-"Sullyvahn? As in the Inkling commander? 'Cause I remember gramps told me about him once, and he didn't seem like a nice fella, even to his soldiers.", Marie added and Octavio laughed.

-"Yeah, that's him alright, although your old man's description is very generous... not that it matters now, anyways, whenever we Octarians decide we don't like someone, we put "Sullyvahn" in front of his name, and boy, did we _hate_ C.Q.", he explained, "You see, the moment we entered, he seemed like a polite sea cucumber, he did, he looked fairly friendly, too, but then he strapped ink bombs to our backs. We didn't know what they were at first, and C.Q. told us that they would help us with the tests we were about to overcome. At first, he conducted us to some simple things, like going from point A to point B, or avoiding some ink, but things progressively got more challenging until one of us made a small error. He then detonated us.", Octavio narrated as he blankly stared into the horizon, seemingly remembering the rest of the details.

-"Wait, he detonated you?!", Callie yelled with an unbelieving expression and Marie shrank.

-"Yeah. There were respawn points, thank goodness, but we were still horrified, especially considering his detonation takes a few seconds while the bomb gets ready, so we called him out on it and told him to get those splatting machines off of us. He refused. Harshly. I don't know what it is about him, but his attitude changed completely towards us ever since that moment, ever since we "tried to defy Kamabo.".", he quoted and Marie seemed bemused.

-""Tried to defy Kamabo"? Geez, guy was really serious about his job, eh?", she said while a nervous smile grew on her face, and Octavio seemed to have mixed feelings.

-"Yes... No...Maybe? I don't know whether or not he _enjoyed_ his job as a 'splat-switch' controller and the supervisor of tens of sadistic tests, but his polite and calm demeanor never changed... even when it was obvious he was mad, he never got angry... it was unnerving...", Octavio whispered and Marie kept staring at him, trying to check if he was about to change the subject again.

-"He told us that if we were to quit now, the CEO of Kamabo would end us all. He then smiled at us. I don't know what happened to us then, but we all obeyed his orders immediately, especially because he had taken our weapons. That, and that every single passenger in the metro looked at us with a hostile expression the moment we said we were leaving.", Octavio spoke with a quiet voice, almost as if he had forgotten that he was supposed to be talking to the two squids in front of him.

-"We continued test after test, until one of us snapped. He was the youngest, as such, it was expected, and he told that cucumber exactly what he thought of him and his employer. Something then happened. A green, sticky substance was fired at him from the walls, and C.Q. told us that if he truly wanted to quit, then this substance was going to "Free him". As you would expect, we all screamed at him to tell us what the devilfish he was talking about, until the rookie told us that he's not going to be able to handle anymore tests. And he went silent. I heard a slight whimper from him, and then he was gone. The slime engulfed him and the Octoling that was in front of us turned into nothing more than a shell. C.Q. told him that he should wait somewhere else and he didn't even respond, he just obeyed. He was made into an example, and none of us talked with C.Q. ever since.", Octavio stuttered every two sentences or so, trying to take his breath, and Marie looked at him with alarm.

-"I take it you then continued until you finished the tests?"

-"That's it. We didn't want to end up 'sanitized' like the rookie, we saw him once or twice during "Survival Skills" tests where he was ordered to attack us, and he didn't think twice. If he could even think at all, that is. But when we finished those hellish tests, the same machine that shoved us in with C.Q. told us to enter a blender. We had to be either extremely stupid, oblivious or desperate to enter it, and while we were probably the last, we still saw the danger. We returned to C.Q. and asked him what exactly we were supposed to do, but he responded that this _was_ how we get out. By getting blended. Lovely, isn't it?", he asked and both squids emitted a disgusted "Yeaaah...".

-"And then what?", Callie asked with intrigue, "Did you get blended and transform into ghosts? Are you a ghost?", she theorized and Marie laughed.

-"I might as well be one. Anyways, we tried to look for a way out, and we somehow found a stash of ink-weaponry in the metro. C.Q. was involved in The War, both sides, apparently. When we confronted him about it, he didn't even bother denying it; he told us that one day the Inklings would ask for his help to modify a weapon and he'd agree, the next day the Octarians would ask for a counter weapon, and he'd also agree to help them make and assemble it. All for the right price, as he put it, as he "loved to help anyone that needed help."...I still don't know whether he was merely loyal to his company or if he was the true mastermind behind it, but what I do know is that I'd hate to see him overtake its control completely... I shudder just thinking about the modifications he'd make to the facility...", Octavio trailed off before Marie snapped her fingers to regain his attention.

-"Oi! We need to know what happened to Callie, and while you're at it, tell us how you made it out of that 'Kamabo'.", she ordered and Octavio jolted for a minute before continuing.

-"Yeah, yeah, I get it.", he complained with obvious agitation while he waved a tentacle, "How we got out is a story in and out of itself, but the most important part is that we basically broke out, and it was the one and only time I've seen C.Q. be legitimately angry. He's not big or anything... but during our escape we tussled, me and him, and he was truly frightening, more so than Craig, even.", he claimed and the two Idols' jaws dropped, but Octavio ignored that, "We remained for a month in that underground hellhole, and from that day forward I decided that no Octoling shall suffer from Kamabo ever again, and I considered the area where we fell as "Off-limits" for Octolings. Many agreed with my decision, especially considering we weren't the first to fall, but after my campaign to up my people's morale, some Octolings went here intentionally.", Octavio sighed and Callie looked bewildered.

-"But why would they do such a thing?", Marie quietly agreed, it seemed illogical that someone would want to ever go there, especially after Octavio boosted the morale.

-"To prove themselves, of course", well, that explains things, "Each Octoling thought that if they manage to beat it, they'll be considered as heros. At first, we simply let them be, we thought that after the first few go they'd learn their lesson. How stupid I was; in nine months we lost nine thousand Octolings, all of them were no older than 18, and more than 90% of them were my soldiers, I tried contacting C.Q. and telling him to send my people back up, and asked him in the name of the...uh... times we've had together. But he retreated by telling me that if the intelligence level of the "subjects" is high enough, then he has no control on whether or not they get picked, he did tell me that he'd throw them back out if they weren't "suitable". And so, I thought about a solution, and it seemed simple:"

-"Brainwash them to lower their intelligence.", the three cephalopods said in union, with the two squids saying it in realization.

-"Well look at us having a moment here!", Octavio joked, but the two squids didn't reply, it finally clicked, the reason Octavio brainwashes his soldiers, and Marie couldn't help but feel guilty at the fact that she accused him of being uncaring just a few nights ago.

-"Back to Callie, when I found the stupid Octolings that dragged her down, I was late. Too late, even.", he declared, and Callie disagreed.

-"But I'm still here.", she commented.

-"Yes, but you were traumatized. The idiots thought you should be made into an "example", and took their sweet time with you, C.Q., opportunistic sick cucumber that he is, took you with open arms. Or, well, appendages.", he backtracked and Marie glared, now was **really** not the time for jokes. "In addition to having the ink bomb on your back, they also chained your legs, so that the already horrible tests become even more difficult, and during the last few days, they decided to drag you from your tentacles because you weren't able to continue with your tests, you received a barrage of insults every day, or so they said, and just a day before I infiltrated Kamabo, they gave you that tattoo.", he finally concluded, while Marie clenched a fist and twitched her eyes, but Callie remained stunned.

-"And what did you do with those _delightful_ fellas?", Marie demanded as calm as possible but she couldn't hide how angry and disgusted she was, and Octavio gave her a devilish smile.

-"Since they liked Kamabo so much, I left the ten of them there. One week later, C.Q. told me that they were the most interesting subjects he had in weeks, yet that it was a shame they gave up quickly.", he answered and Marie smiled against her will, Octavio picked up on the smile and winked before returning to Callie.

-"I didn't mean for things to turn out the way they did.", he tried justifying with a regretful tone, but Callie remained absorbed in her thoughts. "I returned with you to the underground, and I tried helping you, but you were far too traumatized to do anything. When our leading psychiatrist told me that you were a lost cause, I lost hope that I'd make it out of this adventure and thought about the things I could do before your sister comes and unleashes the wrath of a hundred sarcastic squids on me.", he admitted and Marie couldn't help but laugh at Octavio's fear of her.

-"C'mon, I was gonna make it quick. Besides, we're cousins.", she nonchalantly added and Octavio seemed half surprised for a moment, and Marie looked at his surprise with confusion, all this time and he didn't know that they were cousins?

-"Should say enough about your relationship when I never knew that fact.", he replied and both squids smiled at each other for a minute, "Anyways, after that, I tried talking to you, trying to calm you down, but no such luck, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, on one hand, the Octarians were wondering what took me so long to bring you over when The Great Zapfish was there two weeks ago, on the other, I was facing an angry Marie. It seemed this octopus was out of luck, until I got a letter from one of my soldiers, she was asking me about how many memories she'll lose if she applies for my units, and then it hit me, _I control how many memories they lose or don't_ , and I was desperate for solutions, alright? So I brainwashed Callie, hoping things would be better. At first, there were no noticable improvements, so I increased the intensity of the music I was brainwashing her with, and it worked, sort of; you weren't traumatized anymore, but you thought you were an Octarian soldier.", he explained as the two squids in front of him listened.

-"I tried keeping you down while Marie was coming, mostly sticking to letting the Octarians meet-and-greet you and having you sign a few autographs. Then one day, you asked me to have a collab with me. At first I refused, I thought that in your state, it would've been to risky, but one day you kept insisting, and you gave me the puppy eyes.", he said and Marie knew that he immediately agreed. "But when we worked together, I felt so... so... happy? I guess? My beats were really out of sync with your singing, but the Octarians still loved it, and I was so proud of it, too, it was just a remix of your solo, but I felt it was so... special to me. In fact, I thought about hiding your location for juuust another month so that we make an original album together, it would've been the freshest thing ever.", he admitted, slightly regaining his upbeat tone.

-"And why did you let her use the intercom, then?", Marie was stunned, the reason they found Callie's location was because she used an intercom to try and threaten her recruit... but she used it upside down, and it was something only Callie would do, so Marie didn't take long to locate her.

-"Well, in the beginning of the week you saved her, Callie started showing some strange... symptoms, she'd start talking to me as if I was you, I even checked to see if she was still hypnotized, but I just classified it as a harmless side effect... Then, you started sleeptalking.", he said as if he just confessed a big secret.

-"Wait, I sleeptalk?", Callie wondered, and Marie kept quiet, she actually knew about this fact, and she has used it to her advantage several times, such as whenever she needed to buy her cousin a birthday gift and she needed to know what exactly it was that she wanted.

-"Yeah. But instead of saying you want ice-cream or whatever, you started asking for Marie... you said that you missed her so very much, that you wanted to spend more time with her, but what made me bent on returning you was that you were begging her to save you...saying that you didn't like how dark this place was. I wasn't going to stand that, so I staged our fight; instead of just playing our remix, I remixed both you and Marie's solo, I mean, didn't you find odd how I just magically had the right remix for the situation?", he asked and Marie nodded after a slight moment of wondering.

-"And then we arrived and saved Callie.", Marie commented.

-"Yep. Although I think that she took an extra dose of "memories", so to speak.", Octavio frowned and Marie tilted her head, "You see, I was 100% planning the fight with you. With the exception of The Rainmaker part, that, and the fact that I never thought you'd bring even _more_ remixes, especially not one of Calamari Inkantation, that song has powers, I'm telling ya'!", he exclaimed and Marie started seeing his point of view.

-"Wait, so you're saying that I remembered _too_ much, including the parts I wasn't supposed to remember?", Callie asked, and Octavio replied:

-"Kind of? Maybe? You have this vague sensation that something is wrong, but the full memories never surfaced, I was planning on giving you one final dose of brainwashing, just to make sure you'll be comfortable after our fight, but Marie didn't leave you for a second.", he was frustrated, but Callie didn't see that and put her shoulder around Marie's neck.

-"That's because Marie would've never let something bad happen to me!", she triumphantly said and Marie returned the gestured.

-"Aw, Callie.", she replied as she messed with Callie's tentacles. "Still, that leaves one question before I tell you what I think of you,", Marie announced to Octavio, who looked devastated, "How do we get rid of that tattoo?"

Octavio didn't respond. He smiled manically and Marie frowned, she didn't like it when he did that when talking about Ammoses, and she definitely didn't like it now. Instead of saying anything, something started surfacing on Octavio's forehead, a large number between brackets, made with a dull grey color: [468]. Just when Marie was about to ask what the heck he was trying to say, he turned to his side and something started surfacing on his waist: "Property of Kamabo Corporation©, supervision of C.Q. Cumber, lead researcher, subject handler and DeepSeaMetro© conductor.", next to the sentance, which was written vertically, there was a symbol, it was a circle that had two wave-like lines inside it, with the words "Kamabo" written in old Octarian under the lines, all of this was written and drawn in a dull grey color, and Octavio commented:

-"I got these when I first fell down there 50 years ago. All I'll say is that you're lucky he had pink ink with him; C.Q. never put a "reverse" button on any of his inventions unless he was asked beforehand, and I don't think the Octolings that squidnapped you were kind enough to ask for the tattoo to be removable or that C.Q. has a 'reverse-switch' on his _personal_ machines, he liked writing these things himself.", his smile seemed to waver as Marie closed her eyes before looking at him with dismay, while Callie remained silent.

-"L-listen, I'm not the good guy, and I won't waste your time pretending that I am,", he nervously began and Marie interrupted:

-"That much I knew.", she snarked and Callie stared at him with sadness.

-"But I'm not the bad guy, either. I can't be...not after everything I've done...Right? I... I'm not the bad guy, right, Marie? Callie? Please?", he started begging for an answer, Marie didn't like it when he begged, it didn't suit him and while she was thinking of her answer, he continued his justifications, "Y-you guys aren't the bad guys, either!", he said before backtracking on his words, "Most of you, anyways.", he spat with an acidic tone, "We were all just... opposing sides in an unfortunate situation...I...we... _they_ aren't the bad guys.", he finished his speech, and waited for an answer.

-"I... maybe you're not... it's just that after this entire experience, it's just so hard to... to tell, but if I have to trust my gut, I'd say that you're not the bad guy... not completely bad..., anyways.", Callie finally broke the silence, doing so was a trait that Marie adored, as she was never much good at it, her voice was small and uncertain, and Octavio seemed to be less tense, and he gave her an appreciative look, even if it was mixed with guilt.

-"DJ.", Marie finally said, ready to release her current judgement on the invertebrate, "You've took some dangerous turns. That much we both know, and while I cannot say I believe you're not the bad guy, I can safely say that you're not as horrible as I thought you were, especially considering you had some generous opportunities to do things that could've made you become something else completely.", she concluded, and Octavio seemed to brighten up, before she followed up her sentence, "Still, you and I, we have much to discuss, and as much as I regret having a grudge against you, you have done some things I would consider unforgivable.", she said, and he looked at her with an understanding expression.

-"That's only fair, I'd say."

-"Well, I'm glad we're all pleased. Now if you excuse me, Callie and I have some stars to gaze at, and I want to stay with my cousin for just a bit longer before her early bird nature gets the best of her.", she joked and Callie looked at her as she was heading back to her couch.

-"What? You know I can stay up as late as I want, Marie! I simply choose to maintain a healthier lifestyle!", she replied with a fake tone of dignity, but Marie didn't laugh.

-"Listen, Callie, I need to talk to you about tonight.", Marie spoke with a serious tone, and Callie seemed unsure about it.

-"About what? Octavio's war stories? Because I actually want to-"

-"No, Callie. You know what I'm talking about.", the white tentacled Inkling pressed her, and Callie looked at the ground.

-"Listen, Marie, I don't want you to keep worrying about that silly stuff, alright? We're here to relax-", she tried to say, maintaining a casual tone, but Marie cut her off.

-"These aren't silly stuff and we are _not_ here to relax!", Marie disagreed and Callie seemed confused.

-"We're not?"

-"I'm not! For the past few months I've been wondering how you were doing, for the past few months I wanted to spend more time with you, for the past few months I wanted us to become The Squid Sisters again! Ever since that last Splatfest I've felt as if we were falling apart, and I hated that feeling, Callie,", she started to list and Callie seemed shocked."You could've told me about the memories you were trying to restore during that one weekend you visited, if nothing else, we would've spent time together instead of you putting on those Hypnoshades!"

-"Marie, I... I just didn't want you to worry, and I thought that putting them on might help me regain the memories, y'know? I thought I developed an immunity for them or something...", she muttered shyly.

-"I...ugh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out, I just... I'm scared that we might drift apart, y'know? I can't handle the idea of us separating paths...", Marie confessed, and Callie took her hand again.

-"Listen, Marie, I don't want you to think about these things, alright? We can't separate, we're The Squid Sisters! Even if we won't be together all the time, and I can't promise you that we will be, but what I can promise is that we'll always be touch, one way or another, you don't have to worry about these things, you already worry way too much, okay?", Callie reassured her cousin, who smiled in return.

-"And next week we Turf War?"

-"I thought you wanted us to rebuild our friendship, not destroy it!", Callie exclaimed and Marie laughed before agreeing. 'Alright, next week we Turf War.", she said as she yawned and collapsed on her couch.

-"You can stay up as long as you want, you say?", Marie teased and Callie retaliated:

-"I just don't want to stay up right now...", she said with a tired voice and Marie rolled her eyes, "Hey, where's your pillow, anyways?", she asked as she adjusted hers, whenever Marie was home, she'd always have a pillow somewhere.

-"It's right here!", Marie declared as she took one of Callie's tentacles and put her on her couch.

-"Hey, who told you I was offering free pillows?"

-"You did, whenever we'd go on a camping trip, you'd tell me that "Squid's Pillow Shop" is open whenever, and that its' offering the comfiest pillows around.", her cousin replied as she put Callie's tentacle under her head.

-"Marieee! That was ages ago! You still remember?", Callie asked with excitement and Marie nodded, "Well, how do you like the pillows, customer?"

-"Not half bad, could be more comfortable, though.", Marie teased and Callie laughed before going quiet, and Marie thought she fell for her early bird nature, and decided to keep gazing at the stars, who kept shining tonight, they truly looked pretty. She was absorbed by their light when a large sniff came from beside her after about ten minutes.

-"Coddamn allergies, man, they come at the worst time...", he tried justifying while Marie looked at him and shook her head.

-"Watch yer' language, bucko, or else I'll glue that beak of yours!", she impersonated her grandfather and Octavio cowered.

-"No, Craig, anything but the glue!", he dramatically posed and Marie laughed at him.

-"Maybe you two should start talking again one day.", she proposed.

-"Eh. Don't quite think I can, Marie. We have a far too large gap between us now, it's almost funny to think about the days when we were friends...", he rejected the idea and Marie sighed, she wanted to ask about their friendship, but she knew that it would be another "long story", and she didn't quite want to listen to another one, "Hey, since Callie is sleeping, would we talk about my "unforgivable acts"?", Octavio suddenly suggested, and Marie seemed to think that it's not a bad idea.

-"Look, when I mean unforgivable, I mean unforgivable from my end, you understand? Squidnapping gramps didn't help improve my opinion of you, although I can see _why_ you did it.", she clarified and Octavio nodded, "But squidnapping Callie? I drew the line there, and you crossed it by 5 Kilometers, pal.", she accused.

-"You really do care about her, huh?", he asked with a sly smile and Marie checked to see if her cousin was still sleeping, she was slumped in her couch, and Marie couldn't spy any movements, so she replied.

-"I do,", she started to say as Octavio noticed that the pink squid's arm was moving towards the snack bag that Marie brought, rummaging through it in hopes of finding something, "I might be harsh on her sometimes, but it's not on purpose, definitely, she supported me way back when we were still a couple of 'country pumpkins' and didn't start our career as singers yet, and without her, I would've definitely gave up a while back and stuck with being an anti-Octarian Agent.", the light green Idol admitted while Callie finally rejoiced, as she found a burger in the far end of her cousin's snack bag.

-"She means the world to me, y'know? I would do anything to keep her happy, and when she was squidnapped I was horrified, I thought that you'd vent out your rage on her, and I hate that I was correct...", she muttered and Octavio looked at the ground while Callie started paying attention to their conversation, "I mean, after our argument before the final Splatfest, I thought that we went too far, and I got myself in her team, all in disguise, of course, and tried making her win, not to brag, but I did pretty well, still, she took the loss with a cheerful spirit... I know for a fact I would've been pretty mad if I had lost...", she started saying before picking up, "Just don't tell her this, please. I'd prefer if it was kept secretive for just a bit longer, alright?", she demanded and Octavio smiled.

-"Oh, _I_ won't tell her.", he teased and Marie tilted her head before receiving a hug from behind.

-"Marieee! You big softie, you! I knew that one charger user was too good to be anyone else other than you!", Callie yelled while Marie tried to escape her hug.

-"Whaaa, you were awake?!", Marie cried out as Callie laughed.

-"Told you, I can stay up as much as I want!", Callie reminded her and resumed, "I never thought we'd both have the same idea during that Splatfest!", she exclaimed and Marie looked at her.

-"Wait... you were that one great roller user?", Marie realized as Callie smiled.

-"Well... I wouldn't say great, but I did a number now, especially considering I only participated in the matches during my off-time from singing.", Callie thought and Marie pushed her back to her couch.

-"Well, that's one less secret between us, I suppose.", Marie finished as Callie pulled her covers over.

-"Yeah, and that secret was how much of a softie you are."

-"Is that _really_ a bad thing now?", Marie replied, thinking that denying the truth will only push her deeper.

-"Not at all, Mar."

-"Mar? It doesn't work as well as Cal, Cal!", Marie pointed out, and Callie shrugged.

-"It works for me.", she declared.

-"Alright, goodnight for reals this time?", Marie proposed as she prepared her makeshift "pillow".

-"Goodnight, best friend.", Callie said as she closed her eyes.

-"Goodnight, other best friend.", Marie responded as she gazed at the stars.

-"And g'night, rivals.", Octavio said from inside his globe and the three of them shared a laugh.

-"The stars really are pretty tonight...", Marie whispered, and with that, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, tonight was a night she wouldn't forget anytime soon, while there were some things that were still floating in the back of her mind, she at least knew that Callie still cared about her, and that was a fact she wouldn't trade for the world.

Also Octavio is no longer an evil DJ, he's a less evil DJ that adores their singing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a while, hasn't it? Indeed, I have finally returned with the second chapter of my fanfic, it's a bit of a long one, and for that I apologize, but I just got caught up in writing it that I forgot about the length, still, I hope you enjoyed it all the same, and I thank you for reading it!
> 
> I tried smoothing some of the rougher parts of the first one, and I hope it shows, but if there are any more issues you believe I should focus on, please, do tell me, I would greatly appreciate it!
> 
> This chapter mostly focused on Octavio and Callie, the next one will probably return to Squid Sister shenanigans, which I hope you'll enjoy, and it'll probably be quite a bit shorter than this one.
> 
> Until next time, staaaaaaay fresh!


	3. Turf Waring.

When Marie first woke up to the rays of the sunlight, she tried her best to ignore them so that she could sleep longer, so she pulled her covers up and closed her eyes to continue her rest, only for someone to scream next to her:

-"Marie! Wake up, sleepyhead! It's already 9 in the morning!", Callie ordered with impatience, she didn't like waiting around and doing nothing, and with Marie using her tentacles as a pillow, she couldn't quite get her usual freedom, and Marie mumbled as she tried to open her eyes:

-"Just... five more minutes, gramps... the Octarians are... silent...", she nearly fell asleep again if it wasn't for the fact that Callie shook her so that she could wake up.

-"Come on, Marie! You need to wake up earlier! Octavio's already up!", her cousin encouraged her as she pointed towards the purple octopus, who looked as if he was experiencing a shock; while he always woke up earlier than Marie, he wasn't used to Callie's impersonations of an alarm clock, unlike Marie, and he probably didn't like being woken up to what he most likely thought to be an alarm that the enemy was bombing them.

-"Alright, alright, here I am...", the light-green squid yawned while her eyes were still closed, trying to enjoy the last few minutes of laziness before fully registering the world around her.

-"You were sleeping like you haven't slept in a century, is it because of how comfortable you pillow was?", Callie asked with a smile as she took her left tentacle from under her friend's head, who was still battling to open her eyes.

-"You could certainly say that much.", Marie responded while she was trying to get her covers off.

-"Hmm, could've sworn that the pillow "could be comfier"...", Callie wondered while placing her hand on her chin.

-"Nah, you must be imagining things.", her cousin denied as she finally got up, and the pink squid didn't waste a second, as she jumped out of her couch to pull her cousin out of her lair, but the other one resisted, holding onto the last bits of the couch's warmth.

-"Nooooo, Callie, leave me be, what am I going to do out of my couch, anyways?", Marie complained as Callie tried her best to get her to stand on her two feet, without much success, it was as if Marie was glued to her couch.

-"C'mon, sleepyhead, at least come eat your breakfast!", the pink squid Idol motivated and the green squid started looking interested.

-"Alright, you have my focus, what do we have?", she asked as she finally managed to open her eyes, and her cousin looked proud for a brief moment before lifting a fist to her mouth.

-"Oh... uh... well, how about you figure out for yourself?", Callie suggested, but she didn't convince Marie.

-"We don't actually have breakfast, do we?", Marie asked and Callie returned her question with a nervous smile while scratching the back of her head.

-"So, eggs and toast?", the black tentacled squid proposed, and Marie agreed to her proposal.

-"Sure, just add a small cup of coffee to the mix and we have a deal."

-"On it!", Callie replied with her usual chipper tone and did a military salute before hopping to their makeshift kitchen, it wasn't much, actually, it was composed of the fridge that Marie moved down to the outpost, a small electric cook-top that their grandfather had bought so that he doesn't waste time cooking food then moving over to his cabin to eat it, and a few cabinets that helped store their dry goods, it could've been better, but it served its purpose, and neither Inkling complained about it.

Marie watched her cousin reach her destination before pulling out the ingredients she needed and preparing a frying pan and a kettle, Marie always wondered how Callie managed to develop such a fondness for cooking; she seemed to love the hobby, and she was definitely great at it, if nothing else, she was leagues better than Marie, who had difficulty frying eggs.

The green squid dragged her gaze away from her friend and analyzed her surroundings, their couches hadn't moved an inch, as you would expect, but it was obvious that Callie was extremely bored without anyone to talk to, as evidenced by the fact that she had made a couple dozen of knots in her covers, Octavio was doing the same thing as her, and when they finished she spoke out:

-"Aren't you going to say good morning or something, DJ?", she questioned, and he rolled his eyes before obeying.

-"Yeah, yeah, g'morning, how do you do, yada yada yada...", his voice was tired, and Marie joked:

-"What, don't tell me you're tired because of last night, just look at Callie and tell me that she slept at the same time as us.", she pointed at her cousin, who was flipping some eggs, and Octavio chuckled.

-"Yeah, she's a hurricane of energy, I'll say that.", he yawned slowly, and Marie noticed something odd; it wasn't like Octavio to be so tired in the morning, he usually woke up right after Callie, but the oddities didn't end there, as Marie remarked.

-"Hey... your globe... it moved.", she realized while Octavio raised his eyebrows and denied:

-"Whaaat? You must've not woken up completely yet, just close your eyes and open them again, my globe is still in the same place it was last night.", but Marie objected:

-"No, I remember when you told me to move a little bit more to the north-west last night, now it's facing the east-west.", she explained, and Octavio seemed impressed.

-"That's a good memory if I've ever seen one.", was all he could say before Marie gave him a demanding look, "Alright, fine, I admit, I got out of my globe during the dawn and assumed my Octoling form.", he confessed before following up when Marie grabbed Chargy, "Don't worry too much about it, I just needed a small break from being cramped in my octopus form and a bit of fresh air, besides, I love the sunrise; it's something we don't see much in the underground."

-"It seems like it ruined your sleep schedule, however.", Marie teased as he yawned again, and he nodded briefly before replying:

-"I also left some things here and there, you know, just so that I don't have to hold them on my person all the time.", he announced .

-"Anything else I should know, big octopus?", Marie asked and he shook his head in denial.

-"Nah. That's all there is to it. Now if you excuse me, I want to nap for a bit, I've already had breakfast during the dawn.", he declared as he tried closing his eyes again, and Marie stopped talking. With Octavio gone, she decided to go check on her cousin, it wasn't like she was about to sleep again after this anyways, and so, she made her journey to their kitchen, still getting used to the feeling of waking up.

-"How's Tentakeel Outpost's greatest chef doing?", she said from behind Callie while she was heading to her seat, and the other squid replied by handing her a plate that had a fried egg and two toast slices on it, alongside the coffee Marie wanted.

-"Pretty well, considering I'm about to have my breakfast.", Callie answered as she sat on her seat with a replica of Marie's plate, "How are you?", she asked in her turn.

-"Pretty good, I'm having a good breakfast, Octavio already fed himself, couldn't ask for more, really. Well, that's a lie, I could go for two more hours of sleep...", she trailed off and Callie laughed before returning to Marie's second point with a head tilt.

-"Octavio already fed himself?"

-"Oh, yeah.", Marie responded before telling Callie about their small talk when she fully woke up and Callie emitted an "aaaah" of understanding,

-"Any ideas on what the things that Octavio hid are? Or any idea on their whereabouts?", Callie asked excitedly, gulping her breakfast in a way that was definitely not 'Cap'n Cuttlefish Approved', barely chewing her food.

-"Not really.", Marie mumbled with a muffled voice; she was trying to swallow her breakfast.

-"Then you know what that means! It's time for The Detective Duo to strike again!", Callie screamed with an overly excited tone, and Marie seemed slightly confused.

-"Uh... when did they strike before?", she questioned, but Callie paid her question no mind and started theorizing:

-"Alright, the first step to being a good detective is to consider the possibilities, since Octavio doesn't 100% hate us, hiding his stuff under his globe would seem like unnecessary effort, which means he would probably hide them somewhere we don't like going to in an attempt to deter us from the real evidence! The smart thing, he must've hidden it in the laundry pile!", she deduced, putting her knuckled fist in an open palm, trying to imitate the detective shows she loves so much.

-"Or he might've put them behind your couch.", Marie said while pointing to a small brown leather briefcase that was on its side right behind Callie's couch, and Callie didn't waste a second; as she bolted there immediately, and Marie tried to catch up with her, but no such luck, Callie was always a far more energetic squid.

-"I never thought that briefcases would be Octavio's style, _especially_ ones that are so fancy!", the pink squid exclaimed as Marie finally reached her.

-"You learn something new everyday, it's what I always say.", she said in between gasps, running wasn't her favorite hobby, as one might expect, "Back to the briefcase, what's inside it?", Marie asked with an interested voice, she was quite intrigued by what the purple octopus might be hiding in his briefcase.

-"...Guess the world may never know; it's locked.", Callie figured out with a disappointed tone, "Maybe he left clues to the unlock-code somewhere else! Laundry pile, here I come-", she picked her sentence back up before Marie held her shoulder and pointed to a coat on the ground.

-"I don't think he put as much thought into this as you think.", Marie said while Callie dived for the coat, it was a light-blue long-coat with a few pockets, its design was mostly plain, and quite old in fact, with the most striking aspect of the long-coat being its color, by looking at it, Marie assumed it would barely extend beyond his knees, it also looked like it has seen better days, judging from the several patched spots. Callie rummaged through the pockets hastily, hoping to find anything of worth, and she succeeded, because not two minutes later she pulled out a phone with an octopus-like shape.

-"Marieee! Check this out: Octavio's phone! I wonder what secrets the suspect may be hiding...", she wondered, and Marie took the phone from her hand before dramatically gasping, and Callie begged to see the phone, "What is it, detective Marie?! Blackmail? Illegal trading? Rare animal smuggling?", Callie listed impatiently as Marie turned the phone only for her to see... a lock screen.

-"...His password is composed of only one number? Not exactly fitting for the Octarian leader now, is it?", Callie noted before Marie pointed to small phrase in the upper-right corner of the screen, and the pink squid started reading out-loud, ""If an incorrect password is entered, please scan your fingerprint, Octavio."", she finished and Marie spoke in her turn:

-"Yep, seems fitting now. Unfortunately, we don't have all day to figure out what Octavio's password is, so we're going to be forced to put off the investigation until a later time, detective Callie.", Marie concluded and the pink squid pouted.

-"C'mon, partner, we don't have anything else planned for today, do we?", Callie asked with irritation, she never liked leaving a mystery unsolved, and Marie gave her a sly smile.

-"Hmm, yeah, you're right, we can probably delay Turf Waring for another week so that we finish this investigation.", Marie agreed nonchalantly, only for Callie to look at her with amazement.

-"Waitwaitwait, hold the phone for a moment, we're Turf Waring today?! I thought you said we'd Turf War next week!", Callie said, unable to hide her child-like excitement from her voice.

-"And you're right, and since I like keeping my word, I'll wait until next week-", her cousin tried to say, but the black tentacled Inkling protested greatly.

-"What?! No, I'd love to Turf War today! Just say the word and I'll be ready in an instant!", Callie promised and Marie smirked.

-"But what about our investigation? We can't leave that hanging, can we?", Marie disagreed, trying her best to impersonate Callie's voice, and the other Inkling grabbed the phone from her cousin's hand.

"I'll take it with me. There, now let's get ready, wouldn't want to come back home late now, would we?", Callie asked, and Marie smiled a little before agreeing.

-"Alright, Cal, you win, I'll dig out my disguise, you dig out yours.", Marie ordered and the other Inkling girl leaped for their wardrobe, with Marie sighing as she tried catching up with her cousin again.

Marie's disguise wasn't all that creative, in all honestly, she reused her Agent 2 suit since it did its job, unlike Callie, who could mold outfits for different occasions, as she demonstrated by wearing the same outfit she returned to the outpost with, only adding sunglasses that Marie had personally tested no less than 15 times to make sure they weren't Hypnoshades. With her face actually covered, it was an alright outfit for remaining hidden from fans. The two Inklings were about to head out of their home when Marie noticed something strange on her phone as she was pocketing it.

-"Hey, gramps sent a message!", she exclaimed as Callie was about to jump out of their sewer vent.

-"What? No way! Gramps, sending messages from his phone? What is this sorcery?", Callie asked with a dumbfounded tone as she headed to see her grandfather's message.

-"Some sorcery it is, can you read it in gramps' voice, Cal?", Marie demanded as she handed the pink squid her phone; whenever the two of them would receive a message from their grandfather, they'd try their best to read it in his voice, for that authentic experience. That, and that it was often amusing to try and do so. So Callie took a breath and started reading:

 _"YOOO HOW ARE YOU CLACKAJACKING MY HOMIES??? ♪♪♪_  
_"JUST saved Inkopolis today with Agent 3 lmaos (Like Man; Am Omega Spooked)_  
_I've been livin' the good life and I've made some good boys here in kamabo_  
_I nearly got splatted too but my main boy Agt 3 got me out_  
_I am still in kamabo chatting with the MVP C.Q. Cumber, he's the real deal_  
_I got to chill for a day or two being tight with my boys before coming back to my hole_  
_Hope you two aren't sizzling your heads too much 'bout MC.Craig, till next time, keep being da' bombs_  
_Your boy, Cap'n Cuttlefish_  
_P.S sorry about the caps at the start"_

The two squid Idols remained silent for a few minutes, with Callie opening her mouth every now and again, trying to say anything that could describe what she was feeling, but finding nothing, it seemed the words melted at her lips, something unheard of for Callie, it was only after about ten minutes had passed that Marie was able to speak out:

-"...I am horrified, embarrassed, interested and yet humored all at once. I also have a sudden urge to show this to Octavio.", she spoke out with a slow voice while Callie erupted into laughter, and Marie couldn't help but laugh with her.

-"Still, Kamabo? C.Q.? _Nearly getting splatted?!_ This doesn't sit right with me at all, Marie.", Callie worried, Octavio spoke with great horror of these two, but Cap'n Cuttlefish seemed to be completely unfazed by them, he even spoke of them as if they were something natural for him, and Marie agreed with her cousin.

-"Yeah, we have a few questions to ask him, but for now, let's hope Agent 3 keeps him safe. I'm also more worried about the fact that he learnt what caps _is_ in the first place, never mind him being able to send messages and _emojis!_ ", Marie joked and Callie laughed, but in reality, she was growing more and more worried, while her grandfather did tell them he was alright, he was known for lying when push comes to shove to not make people worry about him, which meant that he needed help, desperately, it was definitely something she didn't like about him, and she always assumed it was a trait he got from the war, but she tried to keep a positive outlook, hoping that this time, he was actually telling the truth.

-"So what do we do now?", Callie pulled the white tentacled Inkling from her thoughts, and Marie replied while keeping a casual tone.

-"Well, we have two options,", she began, trying to imitate a profreshional and serious tone, and Callie listened, "We either tell Octavio about this and show him what happened to his war rival," she proposed while Callie bit her lip and wore an 'Are-you-sure-this-is-a-good-idea' expression before continuing, "Or we try not to sizzle our head 'bout MC.Craig and continue on with our day, I'm splatting for a chance to splat you.", she finished with a smirk, and the pink squid returned it with a challenging expression.

-"You wish! I'll show you today in the field!", she dared and tried sprinting for the sewer vent before stopping and heading back to Marie and grabbing her cousin's arm, "...Riiiight after you show me the way in Inkopolis Square, I've never actually gotten a chance to fully familiarize myself with it on my "relaxing week"", she made air quotes with her fingers and Marie followed Callie (See: Got dragged by Callie) to the vent while rolling her eyes; no matter how much it seemed obvious to her that her cousin needed to relax, the energetic squid would never admit the fact that she enjoyed her week of relaxing.

-"Oh! And please remind me to ask gramps who in the heavens taught those... words, and what exactly he means by MC. Because I'm all open for hearing new talent, believe me, but... gramps, singing rap? I... uh... I mean, I'm interested?", the black tentacled Inkling said with a confused tone, yet still keeping her upbeat and cheery tone she'd always use, and Marie returned her question with an unsure shrug.

"Who knows. Maybe he's actually good at it, like Octavio's good at making music.", she reminded her cousin as the latter was preparing to jump through the vent.

-"The difference is that Octavio actually spent time learning how to make music.", Callie objected. And with that, the pink squid super-jumped out of their outpost, and Marie followed suit, the sun's light slightly blinded her as she got out, but she quickly recovered and looked around for Callie, only to discover that she was just next to her, admiring Sheldon's weapon shop: Ammo Knights. She always appreciated the pun. She was busy watching the crustacean scoot around, telling young squids inside his shop tales and essays about the weapons inside his shop, many looked quite bored, with only a few actually interested, probably new Turf-Warers, Marie thought.

-"That is Sheldon's new place. Very exciting.", Marie commented with a sarcastic voice, catching Callie off-guard, while the horseshoe crab was a friend of theirs and has even assisted in rescuing Callie, they weren't too close; Sheldon was always busy with his shop, and when Marie offered him a chance to join the New Squidbeak Splatoon in a fit of joy as thanks for helping her save Callie, he refused, saying that "the technology team needs to keep some distance from the troops on the front lines"... in hindsight, he was probably referring to his grandfather and his encounter with Octavio's squad, Marie thought.

-"Seems like the place hadn't changed a bit from The Plaza... well, care to show me the place, Marie?", Callie asked and Marie agreed immediately.

-"Well, of course I would! Right next to Sheldon's is the rest of The Galleria; it's where the newer shops are,", Marie explained as the duo walked by a large group of stores with a large turtle statue on top of them, bumping by some Inklings who were too distracted with the advertisements and sales, "Right here is Headspace, this is the new head-wear shop, basically,", she tried to complete her sentence before getting interrupted by Callie:

-"Wait... this isn't Annie...", Callie noticed with a sad voice as she noticed the sea slug and her friend showing their goods to some indecisive Inklings; the long-tentacled Idol was good friends with the owner of the head-wear shop in the Plaza, Annie, not so much with her partner, Moe, but she was always sympathetic towards the sea anemone.

-"Oh, yeah, Annie got too flustered from the face-to-face interaction with people, especially ones that just returned from a bad game of Ranked, so she headed online, the new guys are called Flow and Craymond.", she pointed towards a shrimp that was sitting on Flow's head, which had an abnormally large top that resembled a straw hat, with two small, stubby and striped feelers, Flow seemed to be quite the calm person, she was wearing a coat and a dress which were obviously far too big for her, alongside a necklace with a teal squid-like jewel, which Callie "ooohed" at, finishing her attire with some sandals. Ones that were decorated with red jewels. Perhaps Flow was just a little too trusting with Inklings.

-"She's certainly a character,", Callie finally said, looking at the sea slug, she seemed to never lose a space-y tone in her voice, and most Inklings conversed with her quite casually, almost as if she was a friend of theirs, "And this Craymond seems to be a waaaay nicer shrimp than Moe could ever hope to be.", she spoke about the shrimp, which seemed to be quite nervous and anxious, often yelling at some unsuspecting buyers, still, unlike Annie's partner, he seemed to actually encourage them and generally try and be decent, unlike the clown fish, which made several people think twice about visiting Annie's, "But I'll still miss Annie.", she finally concluded and Marie gave her a pat on the back.

-"Hey, don't be so blue now, Cal,", she comforted her cousin, barely refraining from saying her full name, "I'm sure Annie's far better off with her online job. You can always send her a message if you want.", the light-green squid suggested and Callie seemed to brighten up as they were heading towards the nearest shop: Shella Fresh.

-"Shella Fresh? I've got to see this!", Callie ran towards the footwear shop's windows and looked through them, with Marie introducing the owner:

-"This right here is Bisk,", she pointed towards a large yellow spider crab that had shoes on all of his several legs, three pairs at least, her wore a sports short, a tanktop and oval shaped sunglasses that had a white rim surrounding them. He appeared to be quite the laid-back person, not quite talkative, but he seemed pretty proud of his wares.

-"He seems to be a nice guy.", Callie commented as she moved away from the store's windows after a few Inklings started staring at her, "And I'm sure he'd enjoy a bit of _bisky_ activities in his off-time.", she punned and Marie groaned while pointing at the last shop of The Galleria.

-"That's Ye Olde Coth Shoppe.", she announced as Callie stuck her face to the windows again while asking:

-"What happened to your accent there, Mar? Did you transform into Jelonzo for a second?", she asked, barely stopping herself from saying 'Marie'.

-"No, that's the shop's name."

-"Oh. I... see... Is Jelonzo the store's manager, by any chance?", Callie hypothesized; the jellyfish they knew at The Plaza had a funny way of speaking, almost as if he learnt English in a day or two, still, his clothes were the freshest thing around, and as Callie noticed, the clothes of this shop were no different.

-"Sort of? This is Jelfonzo, his son.", Marie declared while the other squid stared at her with amazement, "No, I don't know _when_ he had him or _how_ he's now leading a successful store when he's barely a year old, but I do know is that his English is straight out of a Squidspear novel.", Marie answered even before Callie asked the question, and the other squid returned to watching the light-blue and purple jellyfish explain what his "cloths" do to some Inklings, who seemed like they relied on a single older Octoling to decipher his words.

-"Woah! Look, Mar, it's an Octoling!", Callie pointed at him while Marie dragged her away.

-"Yeah, they've been popping up quite often now,", she said wile looking at a group of them who were planning a strategy for Turf Wars, "Octavio wasn't lying when he said that they'd be living a far better life here, I'll give him that much.", she commented.

-"Maybe we should drag him with us one day. It's not like he's enjoying himself down in the outpost.", the pink squid Idol proposed, and Marie smiled at her.

-"Now, who was the big softie again?", she teased and Callie whistled innocently, "Fine, sure, tell him and we'll see what he has to say.", she agreed to her proposal.

-"Alright, I'll see about it. But would you mind telling me where I'm being dragged to?", the cheerful Inkling questioned as Marie was dragging her towards a yellow truck that quite a lot of graffiti on it, and Marie responded while still dragging her:

-"To the Crust Bucket, of course", not one second after saying that, their roles have swapped, with Marie being the one dragged; Callie loved Crusty Sean's meals, even when she only visited him in his new food store once, it was as if the meals were specifically prepared for her, of course, Marie objected a few times; these things were fried more times than the times Marie said "Staaaaay Fresh" in her life, but they both agreed that a snack or two from his truck every once in a while would be good to lift their mood, still, Callie did insist on visiting him for a while, and Marie thought that today would be a good time, if Callie would respect the line, that is.

-"Bill's on me, partner, just keep in mind that we're only getting a drink, we can't exactly have a Triple-Fried-Galactic Shwaffle then battle.", Marie reminded her cousin while they were waiting for their turn in the Inkling and Octoling line, Crusty Sean's stuff were definitely on high demand. When the two finally reached the shrimp, Callie immediately ordered a Special-Charge Shake while Marie ordered a Special-Saver Latte, their favorite things, and then waited for Sean to prepare the drinks. His attire was fairly normal for the most part, he wore a pair of glasses, and a backwards cap and four pairs of shoes, the regular stuff for a shrimp, what made him stand out was that around his waist was a massive crust coat, Marie always assumed it was a special made jacket, but there were some rumors going around that the shrimp actually fries himself daily to give himself the appeal. She still needed to tell this to Callie, as the pink squid will definitely have a day with that piece of information.

-"Your freshest drinks from the freshest shrimp in The Square, here ya' go, girls.", he pulled Marie out of her thoughts and she handed him her food-tickets before taking the two cups and walking out of the line.

-"I still think we would've been able to handle a Triple Fried Galactic Shwaffle.", Callie complained as she picked up her cup from Marie's hand and took a sip.

-"Better safe than sorry, remember how we ended up after a single meal from Sean's truck?", Marie reminded her cousin, it was true that his stuff was super tasty, but it made the two Idols unable to move from their seats for a few minutes while trying to digest the stuff, ending up like that in a Turf War would've been disastrous for Marie, and even more for Callie, who depended entirely on her movement speed to ink turf with Rolly.

-"Eh, nothing more than a coincidence, I tell ya',", the pink squid Idol contradicted her cousin's reminder before having a brain freeze because of how fast she was drinking her shake, "Is there anything else in The Square?", she asked Marie while holding her head.

-"Not really, there's the arcade, that one-eyed sea urchin which I don't trust and... oh yeah, these two.", she pointed at a short squid and a taller brown Octoling that were chatting in a glass studio next to the large battle lobby: Pearl and Marina, the new Idols of Inkopolis. Callie stared at them as they were passing by, a group of Inklings and Octolings were stuck to the glass of the studio, observing their favorite singers, and Marie commented:

-"Funny to think that two years ago, these two were a regular Inkling and Octoling, they even visited us once in a restaurant and took pictures with us, remember?", Marie said, the Off The Hook duo was actually a big Squid Sisters fan back when the two were still together, their popularity surged when the two cousins parted ways, and Callie sighed.

-"Yeah, I remember thinking they had lots of potential back then. Guess I have a good eye for peeps. Still, I really miss the Inkopolis News job... It was fun, if nothing else, and it gave us a lot of inspiration for our songs...", she explained as they were about to head into the battle lobby.

-"C'mon, we can still make songs even without the job, we're gonna come back with another song that will make the crowd go wild, just like Fresh Start.", Maire reassured her and Callie smiled at her and readjusted her sunglasses.

-"Yeah, I'm sure of it. Still, we had lots of fun together on the job, I kinda wish we get it again, but these two seem to be doing well with it, and I don't see them leaving it anytime soon-Hey, what's that?", she spaced out of her own speech, pointing to a building with a metal gate next to what seemed to be a vending machine, it was behind the lobby, quite hidden.

-"That's Girzzco. That's as much as I know about it.", Marie admitted as they were entering the lobby, "Alright, where to now, cap'n?", she told her cousin as they entered the lobby, the lobby was a massive train station, actually, one which Inklings and Octolings of all shapes and sizes were waiting on its lines for the trains that will bring them to their destinations where they would battle, and Callie started "ooohing" and "aaahing" at the various different stages.

-"I've never seen most of these before! Turf Waring changed so much since the last time we battled together!", Callie exclaimed as she was examining the large TV screen that displayed the trains that were heading to the lobby at the moment, and Marie concurred.

-"Not much of a surprise; the last time we Turf Wared was right after the final Splatfest...", Marie complained and Callie cheered her up.

-"C'mon, just a few more minutes and we'll be Turf Waring. And I'll be winning. Now, which train is the closer one...", she started pondering before Marie could have a chance to object, "Aha! The Reef's train is 15 seconds away, what do you say, partner?", Callie suggested and Marie seemed on board with her idea.

-"Sure, I've been wanting to try this stage out for a while.", she said as the train started coming into view, and just a few seconds later, the two Inklings were boarding the train, and Callie found two seats for the duo to sit on.

-"So, Mar, how do you feel now that we're heading to a new, completely unknown stage?", Callie nervously asked and Marie kept a level-head.

-"I'm pretty confident in our skills, gramps' training definitely gives us an upper hand, and with Chargy and Rolly, I think we can dominate this.", she boasted, patting her Hero Charger, and Callie nodded before noting:

-"Still don't know why you keep your old model, I mean, you can just improve the outer design and keep everything else the same way, if that's what you're worried about.", Callie remarked; Marie never changed her Charger's model, unlike Callie, who would try and upgrade Rolly whenever she'd get the chance, and Marie raised a finger and gave her cousin a sly smile:

-"That's where you're wrong, squiddo; I actually updated Chargy's internal functions when Sheldon was staying over, I just decided to keep the old model, for the memories.", Marie corrected her cousin and the other one seemed to think about Marie's decision for a while.

-"Eh, I think the memories are in the weapon itself, not the model, but who knows, I always gave Rolly an update when I was able to, so I'd never know.", the sunglass-wearing Inkling debated her cousin, and she shrugged before the train came to a halt and a mechanical voice announced:

-"Welcome to The Reef. Home of some of the best shops, hangout places and parks in Inkopolis, enjoy your visit."

The two squids got out of the train and headed to a small tunnel on the left of the station, which looked identical to the one in Inkopolis Square, the tunnel had "Turf Wars" written on top of it, with a timer on how much time is left before it switches to another mode, after a few minutes of walking, they reached a large tube that had a card-reader next to it, and Marie got out her Turf War card, with Callie imitating her and putting it in the reader, and it lit up and started displaying some words:

-"Welcome, Agent 1, level 50 player. Entering: Turf War. Using: Roller. Curling Bombs. Splashdown. Please wait for a moment."

-"Aw yeah, it feels good to know we're on the top.", Callie happily said while a near identical message popped out for Marie, with the only difference being her cover-name, which was Agent 2, and her weapon, which was a Charger and its specials; they had their grandfather help them do some tinkering on the cards, because having it read "Hero" in front of the name would've caused some issues, as you'd expect.

-"Well, we were; the new max cap is 99.", Marie declared while Callie spun her head and looked at her in shock before smiling and putting her hand around her cousin's neck.

-"That means we just need to spend more time to be the best again! And you know what that means: We get to spend more time Turf Waring!", she happily realized and Marie laughed as a few more Inklings of similar levels put their cards in, and in just a few seconds, they were heading to their respawn points.

Marie and the seven other Inklings headed towards a large tube that was going to randomly sort them into two different teams, and they all jumped into it in squid form one after the other, the tube was easily the part she hated the most, it was a few seconds of pitch black, which always made her dizzy and blinded her when heading out into the sunlight, but those seconds quickly passed and she felt the regular feeling of jumping out of the respawn machine's vent, and so she shook the ink that was stuck to her off her and started looking at the stage she was about to ink.

After recovering from the sunlight, she heard her teammates start firing their weapons, alongside a _plop_ followed by child-like laughter and the sound of something heavy being rolled, and Marie immediately figured out that she was paired with Callie, she loved it when that happened, as the duo made an unstoppable team together when Turf Waring, and in a few seconds, Marie transformed into her squid form and swam through the ink that was covering the several ramps that led to the actual battlefield, The Reef was definitely a popular district, it seemed, as evidenced by the multiple forms of sea-life that were cheering for them on the sidelines, the shops, and even from the battlefield itself, as there were a few small buildings in the middle of The Reef, there was even a car that Marie swam by, all covered in ink, of course.

The light-green squid snapped her attention to the matter at hand, and she found a small platform that gave her a nice view of most of the stage, she started looking for her teammates, and she immediately found two of them directly below her, inking for their lives against an inkbursh and a dualie user, so she threw some splat bombs and watched as chaos unfolded; with her distraction, her teammates managed to out-ink the enemy and splat them, getting a clear road for inking, quite literally, as they inked a road that passed under a stone bridge which gave a direct pathway to the other side of the stage, it seemed that their enemy managed to gain control of the bridge, and she saw a small squid ghost heading towards their respawn machines, it seemed that Callie got splatted, not that it was a surprise, while Callie's energy and 'rush-in' behavior helped her immensely with inking terrain with Rolly, she was left wide open for attacks, and a few seconds later, the black-tentacled Inkling was heading to where she was splatted again, with her sunglasses barely hanging on.

-"They've got a splatling in there. Good one, too!", Callie screamed to Marie as she ran by, just dodging a stream of ink that came from a dualie user that was maintaining the bridge, "Think you can deal with him for us?", she asked while throwing ink at her attacker, how Callie had enough strength to perform her moves with a Roller, Marie may never know, but she didn't use a Roller for all of her Turf War life, so who was she to judge? If nothing else, she admired it.

-"On it.", Marie replied back while firing a fully charged shot with her weapon, inking a large chunk of the area her team was trying to control under the bridge. The white-tentacled squid then looked for this splatling user, it was an Octoling, he had a mohawk-like tentacle on his head and most of it shaved, standing on another platform, he was covering his team mates on the bridge, who were starting to push forward, and Marie wasn't having any of it, so she pulled out her special, The Stingray, and aimed at the pesky Turf War-er.

-"Bingo.", she whispered to herself as she shot a stream of ink at her unsuspecting vicitm, and in a few seconds, the Octoling was a mass of ink and clothes on the ground. An octopus ghost headed towards the enemy team's respawn point, and her team started pushing back on the bridge, with Callie leading the assault, splatting at least two Inklings who were trying to see what happened to their cover up above, she threw a "Booyah!" towards Marie, which she responded to with another "Booyah!", but during her celebration, she didn't notice an inkbrush user, who was creeping up on her, it was only when the Inkling girl started splatting Marie that she noticed her, alas, she was too late, and the world darkened around her before lightening up again and her feeling the familiar feeling of being pushed through a respawn machine. She never liked the experience, in contrast with Callie, who thought it was amusing, Marie always had this phobia of the machine suddenly stopping, and Octavio's stories didn't quite help her, but she shook the thought off, as she noticed that they had only 30 seconds left before the match is set, and she swam through her team's ink, trying to find another suitable spot to use Chargy at.

She headed for the bridge and tried keeping the enemy at bay with her Charger, as her team seemed to have separated, but after a brief moment, a small curling bomb rolled next to her, and Marie braced for the impact, only for her to hear another Inkling behind her get splatted; Callie had thrown the bomb after noticing the same inkbrush wielder try and sneak up on Marie again, so Marie gave her friend a "Booyah!" and tried to fire one last shot, only to be interrupted by Judd's whistle, signaling the game's end, and the teammates regrouped to see how much progress they did.

The Idol duo smiled at the results, they had destroyed the opposing team with 60% of the turf covered, and the team celebrated while the other one dramatically pouted, cried or blamed their weapon, It was a common reaction to losing a Turf War, and even The Squid Sisters were no strangers to it.

-"Aaah, we won a game, got some experience, got some cash and had fun, what more could we ask for?", Callie questioned as she stretched because of how much effort she did.

-"Another game?", Marie proposed, slightly tweaking her cousin's sunglasses, who looked like they were about to fall off, and the other Inkling smirked.

-"You betcha'!", and she held Marie's hand before dragging her to the tube for another round, and Marie involuntarily smiled; they were having so much fun together, and she couldn't be happier about it.

The rest of their time at The Reef ended with similar results, as the two squid Idols managed to win almost every battle, with the exception of the time Callie got too distracted looking at some clothes and baby jellyfish, much to her team's dismay, and by 3 P.M., the two cousins were returning to the train station of The Reef, with Callie stretching herself and slumping on the nearest empty chair she could find.

-"Phew, I forgot just how tiring it is to Turf War... I can't believe you're still so full of energy, Mar.", Callie looked at her friend before taking a deep breath.

-"Well, I'm not the one running around with a heavy Roller now, am I?", Marie justified while Callie nodded, still slumped on the chair, "But I've got to agree with ya', this was the most effort I've done in a while. Probably the most fun I've had in a while, too!", she agreed and her Idol-partner smiled at her in agreement before asking, "So, wanna head back home?"

-"Weeeell, not really, actually.", the pink squid rejected the offer, "I still have a bit of strength left in me! You just find another stage, and I'll be back on my feet!", she stood up, showcasing how much energy she has left, before sitting back down again while Marie gave her a skeptical look, "What? You still haven't found another stage."

-"Suuuuure, I'll find one while you take your breath, Ms.Energetic.", Marie replied with a large smirk, and she then started to look at the various available stages and which trains were closer to them, and a large smile bloomed across her mask-covered mouth; Moray Towers' train was a few minutes away. The large towers were a stage present way back, when the duo was still presenting Inkopolis News, even, and the two loved Turf Waring there, she was certain Callie would love spending the rest of their time there, so she returned to her cousin and dragged her to the lane where the train would be arriving, all while not telling her, of course, she wanted to see how her cousin would react to seeing the towers again after all this time, even when the black-tentacled squid begged her many times to know where they were going.

-"Not even a hint, Mar?", Callie interrogated, hoping to get a vague idea of their next destination

-"Nope.", was all Marie replied with while the other squid rolled her eyes, if there was one thing she hated, it was being kept in the dark, and boy, did Marie like keeping her in the dark. At least for now. The train arrived shortly after and the two squids mounted it, it was noticeably emptier than the one they rode to The Reef, at this time, most of the younger Inkling and Octolings would head back to The Square or The Plaza, but Marie reckoned they could stay out until 6 P.M., not that their grandfather would've been pleased with it, but he wasn't here to see it now, was he?

-"Hey Mar,", the pink squid pulled her cousin out of her thoughts while stretching in her seat, "Remind me that we _need_ to come back here later; I saw so many good shops here! There was even a dress in one of the storefronts that I would love to see upclose, and I'm sure you'll find something that you might love!", she asked the light-green squid Idol, who raised her eyebrows in return.

-"A dress? You never liked dresses before, what changed things for you?", her cousin interrogated with a surprised tone, for as long as she knew Callie, the other squid refused to wear dresses unless forced, which meant she was heading to a formal ceremony or something along those lines, but her asking to see one? Was this some joke?

-"Well, they do look good on me, don't they?", Callie justified while Marie had a mixed expression on her face; on one hand, this was one of the weakest arguments Callie made in a lifetime, on the other hand, she _did_ look quite pretty in them, "That, and that my time recording different movies and shows made me acquire a taste for _some_ types, anyways.", Callie clarified and Marie "aaaaah"-ed and shared a laugh with her cousin.

-"You're not wrong, though, they do look really pretty on ya'", Marie agreed and the other squid smiled and returned her compliment with an upbeat "Thank you!" before thinking about something and resting her head on the back of her seat, which was next to Marie's.

-"Wonder if my new show's gonna be liked when it airs.", she wondered with a slightly nervous tone before continuing, "I kinda forced everyone to work with me during the two weeks I crunched to finish it, as we were close to the finale anyways, and I just wanted to come back home soon.", she laughed remembering the event.

-"I'd be more surprised if it wasn't liked; you're like, one of the biggest TV stars right now, in fact, you're one of the best too.", Marie declared as her cousin put a hand around her neck.

-"Aw, Mar-rrr!", she blurted out awkwardly as she tried stopping a "Marieee!" and Marie looked bemused as to why her co-Idol transformed into a pirate for a moment, "You really think I'm one of the best?"

-"You made me watch and enjoy a comedy movie, does that say enough?", Marie confessed while her partner looked astonished.

-"You watched a comedy movie?! You always preferred adventure or drama ones! What changed your mind about them?!", Callie echoed and Marie winked at her.

-"Let's just say the main actress was really good at her job.", Marie hinted and Callie's jaw dropped. She tried mumbling anything to return but she found no words, and so Marie continued, "Yeah, I admit, I'm actually a big fan of your shows, just don't tease me too much about it, alright?", Marie asked as a smile started growing on her cousin's face, "At first I just did it because it was the only way for me to see you, since you didn't answer your phone,", she started explaining while the energetic squid rubbed her arm with a small look of guilt, "But then I started thinking, "Wow, these are pretty good, and Callie is actually fantastic at her rolls!", and voila, I started watching them at regular intervals.", she finished and Callie looked as if she was going to explode from happiness.

-"I think that's as much as I need to know when it comes to how well received my shows are.", she finally spoke out, tightening her grip around Marie's neck, but not to the point where she'd choke her like she used to when they were young, thankfully, "Sorry for being silent, it's just that... well, it's so nice to know that my efforts were worth it.", she apologized before Marie reassured her.

-"Well, I would say my opinion isn't really important," she tried to say, but Callie looked like she could beg to differ, "But I'm more than glad to know it means a lot to ya'", she finished as their train started coming to a halt and a mechanical voice announced:

-"Welcome to Moray Towers. Homes, Turf Wars and towers are here. Please enjoy your stay, and pay attention to the living areas."

Callie looked at her cousin with an unbelieving expression that lasted all the way until they started walking towards the tunnel that would lead them to where they would Turf War before finally screaming while Marie was scanning her card:

-"OHMYGOSH MORAY TOWERS?!", her scream greatly startled Marie, alongside the few Inklings that were waiting for the last team members to join them, "We haven't been here since forever! We loved it when we Turf Wared here!", she exclaimed while regaining her normal voice and Marie sprouted a mischievous smile, complete with a "Ta-Da!", "I should've known that my bestie would've brought us here.", she happily said as the last members joined their team and they started heading towards the large tube that would lead them to the battle field.

-"Oldie but goodie, eh? I knew this would've been the perfect way to end our day.", Marie told the pink squid who nodded in agreement.

-"Well, ready to crush the other team?", Callie asked as she was preparing to jump into the tube.

-"I would rather snipe them.", her cousin punned and jumped into the large, dark tube.

A few seconds had passed before the familiar feeling of popping up from the respawn vent hit Marie, and she felt some sense of nostalgia looking at the stage she and her cousin battled at every so often, unlike The Reef, the place wasn't flat at all, nor was it bustling with a crowd, as The Towers were mostly a calm place where Inklings and Octolings lived, so their stage was set in a place far away from the busier parts of The Towers, there were several ramps on both their and the opponents' side, mostly to help the folks who lived here get to their apartments, there were some roads surrounding their battlefield that had a few cars zooming on them, though the place wasn't exactly all that safe, considering how easy it is to fall, Marie always wondered if the people who built this place actually made it this way to add some difficulty for clumsy Inklings or if it was an oversight that was never fixed. There were some renovations however, as she noted some rails that made traveling easier around the place, and Marie knew what she was going to ink first; she was something of a profreshional when it came to swimming both on and in rails due to just how many of them existed in The Octo Caverns, so it was going to give her an advantage.

She focused her attention on battling when her team started shooting their weapons to ink as much turf as they can, until Marie noticed a distinct lack of a _plop_ on the ground, and she checked her team quickly, they had a dualies user, an Octo-Brush and a splatling, but Marie couldn't spy her cousin, and she immediately focused attention on the other side of The Towers. Her suspicion was correct, there was a figure with a roller rolling down the several ramps on her side, Marie could even hear the laughter and she knew, that she was going up against Callie.

She was actually pretty excited about the ordeal as a whole, as the two squids were begging for a chance to show off their skills against one another, she thought as she shot a fully-charged shot to ink a wall that helped lead her towards a strategic point, her team and the enemy team were about to leave their sides and clash in the center of their stage, which was a large rectangle full of various ramps and boxes, almost as if it was a skating park of sorts, and she started eyeing any Inklings or Octolings that were getting inside her shooting range, but no such luck, as most of them were just out of her reach, so she decided against her usual tactic and jumped into the fray herself, getting an unsuspecting slosher user with a few splat bombs before submerging in her team's ink to re-charge hers, it seemed all was well for a moment, before an Octoling girl that was hiding in a small alley snuck up behind her.

Marie noticed her just as she was about to splat her, luckily, but even then, the girl seemed bent on splatting her, and she demonstrated her will with some moves Marie had never seen before; she dodged with incredible skill, used her inkbrush as if was a sword, unlike other users who swung it around in panic, hoping to confuse their victim, and she dodged all of Marie's splat bombs while pushing Marie backwards in order to avoid them, and Marie remembered for a moment how Octavio gloated about having trained his soldiers to be able to overpower any regular Inkling soldiers with ease. But Marie wasn't any regular Inkling soldier, as she proved by pretending to miss a shot directed towards the young Octoling before dodging her lunge and swam the trail of ink her bombs left, in a matter of seconds, she had gotten enough distance over her to have enough time to fully charge a shot, and she fired, splatting the Octoling girl and inking a decent amount of the turf she had covered while attacking Marie.

-"Nice shot.", a voice called from behind her. Marie turned around to see a smiling Callie and Rolly, and Marie barely had enough time to dodge a curling bomb sent from her cousin.

-"Thanks, how about this one?", the light-green squid Idol asked as she threw a trail of splat bombs at her cousin, which she dodged with relative ease before flinging a large amount of ink at Marie, directly hitting her, luckily however, it wasn't enough to splat her, much to the long-tentacled Inkling's dismay. Marie fired a shot at her, but she was far too quick and managed to avoid it without much difficulty, pushing Marie back until she was in the complete middle of the stage, which made her forced to dodge not only Callie's rolls, but also several trails of ink that were being shot from Callie's team and the ever changing terrain around her. Both of them were a force to be reckoned with, as they had received the same amount of training and experience, so whenever it seemed like Marie would be able to use her bombs to end it all or that Callie was about to roll Marie over, something would happen that shifts the tides of the battle, much to their dismay; the time left for their match was running short, and ending their battle in a tie would have been disappointing, and so Marie tried switching from her usual "Follow a tactic" mindset to something more reckless, in an attempt to catch her cousin off guard. It looked as if she had succeeded in the beginning, as Callie was unsure why Marie suddenly started shooting un-charged shots or why she began throwing Splat Bombs in random directions, which made her get hit by a couple of them, and amidst the confusion, Marie managed to fully charge a shot, but it seemed Callie had adopted her strategy, as she suddenly got in her ink and tried popping up behind Marie, only to come out with her back turned to Marie, odd, she thought as she prepared to fire before Callie tried to Splashdown on her, and Marie aimed at the pink Inkling in the air, readied... and _splat_.

When Marie started to swim up her team's respawn vent, she slowly realized that when Callie gave her her back, she was throwing a small Curling Bomb and hoped that using her special would distract Marie while her bomb re-coils from the wall to Marie, and she succeeded, as the still amazed Marie could testify, and just as she was trying to head back the middle of the stage, Judd's all-too familiar whistle tore apart the music that was playing, and all of the fighters were called to see their results. Marie couldn't quite tell from an upwards view which team won, and the few seconds before Judd and Li'l Judd would announce the winner were always nerve wracking, especially if your team had lost, like Marie's. It was a difference of only 5%, but a difference is a difference, and Callie's team rejoiced while Marie nervously pulled her cap forward to cover her eyes and put her Charger on her shoulder.

-"Nice job, Cal.", she complimented the other Inkling, who looked slightly confused for a moment before returning the gesture to Marie, but they didn't quite have time to say anything else, as their teams dragged them to another battle, and they continued their time in Moray Towers with Callie's team winning most of the battles, mostly due to the fact that Rolly worked quite well with the narrow roads there, but Marie had a victory or three along the way, but by the time they both got out of The Towers, it was 5 P.M., and to say that they were _exhausted_ would've been an understatement.

-"This was absolutely one of the days I've enjoyed most during the past few months.", Marie spoke out with a large smile as the two Inklings slumped on a chair that was gazing at the lane on which the Inkopolis Square train would arrive.

-"Agreed. Although, there's one part that's bugging me.", Callie admitted as her cousin looked at her.

-"How tired you are?", she guessed and the other Inkling shook her head.

-"Nah, I'll deal with that. Hopefully.", she said as her partner laughed, "But aren't you going to make fun of me or something?", she interrogated as Marie blinked and stared at her in bemusement, trying to see if she misheard her complaint.

-"Uh... explanation, please?", Marie inquired with confusion as Callie tried to find the right words for the situation.

-"Well, whenever you'd lose a battle or a Splatfest you'd usually tell me that I only won because your weapon was busted, or you'd snark or make fun of me, and I've kinda accepted it as a tradition between us, so I can't fully register the fact that when I won you congratulated me... I think that's all I have to say on this.", the black-tentacled squid explained slowly and Marie opened her mouth to search for a response before slowly mumbling:

-"I...uh...I never knew you liked my snark?", Marie finally said with an unsure tone before continuing, "Truthfully, I think I toned it down a little because your stay wasn't going to be a permanent one, unfortunately, and I didn't quite want to upset you during its time period, it would've left a sour taste in your mouth. That, and that I didn't want to spend an entire day making up with you.", the light-green squid answered, joking a little with her last sentence and Callie snickered.

-"Well, I didn't _like_ it, per say, but it was something I got used to, so it disappearing all of a sudden was unexpected. But I think it's kind of expected, given how much of a softie you turned out to be.", she teased as their train entered the station.

-"Says the girl who's not convinced that her squidnapper is a bad person.", Marie snarked and the other squid laughed as she entered the train and looked for two seats for them.

-"That's my Marie!", she exclaimed as they took their seats. Marie never liked the trip back from Turf Waring, as it was mostly a quiet, long and uneventful ride that both squids disliked, as they seemed to always lose any conversation topics they could discuss in the train, and Callie seemed to agree with her, because she looked at her with a bored expression that begged her to say anything interesting, but Marie only returned her expression with a similar one. The energetic squid seemed like she was about to accept the idea that they'd spend most of the trip in silence, only speaking to remind one another of how they splatted each other, until she brightened up suddenly and started scavenging her pockets with impatient speeds, Marie couldn't quite figure out what made her cousin lighten up so much until she pulled out an Octopus shaped phone from her pocket: Octavio's.

-"Ah, of course, our investigation!", Marie realized while scooting closer to Callie to see a full view of his phone, "Alright, we need to think logically to find out what his password is,", Marie began, being uncannily similar to Callie's theorizations in the morning, "Since it's only one digit, then that means that he probably remembers the number very well, to the point that the phone would lock itself if the wrong one gets entered, maybe it's a number with great meaning for him? Did the war start on a single digit day? Or maybe his birthday? Hmm...Maybe it's something so simple we wouldn't think of-", she speculated before being interrupted by Callie, who clicked a number while the phone unlocked and Marie stared in awe.

-"It's 8. I think we underestimated just how much he liked the Octarians as a whole.", Callie said and Marie replied with a distracted "Mhmmm", as she was far too busy scanning the phone for anything noteworthy, its background was a picture of a few Octarians standing together and sharing a laugh, the photo wasn't terribly ancient from the looks of it, as it actually had colors, and the two Idols had difficulty recognizing the men in the picture, their hair was fashioned in a single style, which was to shape it in hook-like forms, they all seemed fairly old, judging from the wrinkles some of them had, the youngest person in the picture's tentacles from his left side seemed as if they had been sliced by something sharp, alongside his right ear, although the latter slice was very messy, like it was torn apart.

-"Can't quite tell who these folks are.", Callie murmured while squinting to see if any of them looked like someone they knew.

-"Well, the only Octolings we can claim to know are Octavio, we barely know Marina and...yeah, that's about it. But I can safely pull a guess out of my ink and say that these are Octavio's friends.", Marie speculated and Callie nodded in agreement.

-"That would only make sense. Unless he puts pictures of random people from the streets on his phone. But which one of them is Octavio?", Callie wondered out-loud and Marie re-examined the picture, but with no such luck, as the only picture she knew of Octavio's Octoling form was one that slipped out from her grandfather's war album, and she guessed that Octavio changed quite a bit after 100 years,"Nevermind that, I'm betting all will be revealed about our suspect when we search through his more important things, like his...Omail?", Callie trailed off as she was about to click the envelope shape on the bottom-right of the screen.

-"At this point, you should've seen this coming a few miles away.", Marie commented, she was pretty sure that no Octoling in their sane mind would utilize Squid-Mail, for crying out loud, "Still, may we see what the suspect's personal messages are, dear detective Cal? Isn't that against the law or something?", she followed up her sentence, but before she could even finish, her co-Idol had already opened it.

-"Detective Mar, we _are_ the law, and that gives as much authority as we need to open his personal messages.", Callie justified with a tone of dignity and a 'detective accent', and Marie laughed at her excuse, but there was no going back now, as there were three recent messages that Octavio had received, and Marie was more than intrigued to know what he had to hide, and so she didn't object when Callie opened the oldest message he had gotten, it was apparently sent by "TheOctarianCouncil@omail.com" to "THE_FRESHEST_DJ@omail.com" and the two squids looked at each other with a look of concern.

-"The Octarian Council? This seems really dangerous, Cal, you sure we want to continue?", Marie asked, checking the train wagon to see if anyone was listening to them, luckily, it was empty except for a single, sleeping Jellyfish; not many people remained out of The Square at 5 P.M.

-"I mean, we already made it this far, why not? Could you read it, Mar? You've always been better than me when it came to profreshional voices.", Callie encouraged her cousin to keep going forward, and Marie reluctantly took the phone from the pink squid's hand while shuffling closer to her so that she doesn't need to elevate her voice too much.

_"Dear president Octavio,_

_We will skip the introductions for now. They are not necessary. We would like to inform you that The Octarian Council and your private Board had a few notes on your current performance, if you would kindly accept them. As you already know, the underground is facing a massive resource issue currently, one that was inevitably going to co-exist with the overpopulation issue, we know that we had brought these two issues to your attention multiple times, but we believe you need to act on them **now**. You see, while we do amend your admirable efforts to raise the morale and living conditions of your subjects, this did not do anything to the issues at hand; we are working on renewing our resources, but we are running out of territory for Octarians, as you know. That leaves us with two options:_

_A)Leave the problems with no solutions, thus provoking our people into a probable second Great Turf War, something you have been working your entire life against, or:_

_B)Further explore our underground homes. We know you have always objected against this decision, as you have called it "too dangerous", but this seems like an ideal solutions to 60% of The Octarian Council and your private Board; we have enough of an economy to support the large amount of weapons that will be manufactured, an ever-increasing population issue that can be dealt with by giving the allure that joining the forces that will head to explore the rest of underground will make you a "Hero" and we will gain more resources and territory in the process. Let us put it simply, as you have replied to our latest message by saying that our vocabulary is "Way too fishing convoluted.":_

_If you are too much of a coward to spill some ink for a good cause, then your subjects will spill much of it for chaos, you're lucky that we can't use you as a scapegoat to put the current issues on you, but that luck won't last for long, if you want your era to not be remembered as the era that sparked The Second Great Turf War, you will make a decision during this month. Thank you in advance._

_Oh, we would also like to commend your courage to keep broadcasting speeches from your captivity, many Octolings look up to you for that, and we hope you're doing well out there._

_Best regards,  
_

_The Octarian Council and your Board  
_

-"...Bunch of festive fellas these are...", Marie grumbled as she was processing the information through her mind.

-"Yeah, sheeesh, poor Octavio...", Callie said with a sympathetic tone and Marie couldn't help but agree with her, if these were the conditions he had to work under, then she didn't blame him at all for being grumpy most of the time, "But this was a really good find, fellow detective, nice job translating.", she complimented her partner, as the text was written in Octarian.

-"Thanks!", Marie said with a cheerful tone, trying to forget how cold the message was, "Is there anything else of note?", Marie questioned curiously, if this was one message, then she was aching to see the rest.

-"Well, one's really short, and the sender's name is blocked, it reads: "Transactions with the Salmonids complete for this week. Losses minimal."", Callie read and Marie seemed to remember something.

-"Octavio said something about them trading with the Salmonids for "Power Eggs" yesterday...", she mumbled and Callie nodded before opening the final Omail message.

-"This one's sent by Ida, at least, no idea who they are, though, want me to translate it?", Callie announced and Marie shook her head affirmatively, so the pink squid Idol tried reading from her sunglasses:

_"Hey DJ. Been a while, eh? Not much to say this week, I've been mostly managing The Octavio Institute pretty well, although some of our patients aren't doing too well. I'm afraid you'll need to take a look at their medical files to see what I mean. Other than that, Angelina's been begging to join the army, but I still say she's unqualified. Oh, and please, tell me how my little Marina's doing out there. Until next time."_

-"The Octavio Institute? Patients? Never knew about these things. And who is his little Marina that he wants Octavio to tell him about?", Marie asked and Callie tried to find an answer before giving up.

-"Dunno about the Institute thing, but I'm pretty sure Marina is probably one of the Octolings that got out of the underground. Just a thought.", Callie theorized before noticing something, "Hey, there are some files attached to this message..."

-"Yeah, that's gonna be a hard no from me, partner, Octavio's one thing, but these patients are a whole other subject.", Marie objected and Callie quickly closed the Omail in agreement, "Is there anything else of note on his phone?"

-"Well, other than the social stuff, there's a ...chatroom?", Callie rubbed her eyes, as if she was unable to comprehend that Octavio uses chatrooms before nearly shouting, "That's it, partner! A live conversation between him and someone else! That's the type of evidence we need to know if he's guilty or not!", she enthusiastically said while pressing the chatroom.

-"I'm not to sure about this, maybe we should call it a day here...", Marie tried to protest, but Callie replied to her protests with a cheerful tone:

-"C'mon, I'll open the first thing I see, if we find out that it's something too personal, we'll turn it off, okay?", Callie assured her cousin, who still wasn't thrilled by the idea, but before she could say anything, Callie had leaned over to show her the chatroom.

                                                                                                      Today at 6:46 A.M.

 **HandsomeOcto** :Heyy DJ. How's my favorite octopus doing? I was worried about you, y'know. You haven't been online in 3 days. That's a lot of days

 **NoodlesForDays** :Well it's not that much, but we worried about you.

 **SquidSistersFan** :Aw, shucks guys, thanks for worrying. I don't have much tim and I just wanted to make sure you two are fine

 **HandsomeOcto** :I don't have much tim either, but I have lots of billy

 **SquidSistersFan** :I regret joining this session and I am going to leave

 **NoodlesForDays** :No DJ wait. We didn't even ask how you're doing yet.

 **SquidSistersFan** :Your waaaay too formal, K. But I'm doing fine, I had a pretty nice talk with Callie and Marie last night. They're doing fine, which makes me happy

 **HandsomeOcto** :Lucky

 **NoodlesForDays** :Wouldn't say that if I was trapped in a snowglobe with my enemies watching over me.

 **SquidSistersFan** :Well after last night I'd say we're frenemies more than anything

 **HandsomeOcto** :See? Told you he's lucky

 **NoodlesForDays** :We're sitting right next to each other, you know. You could've just told me.

 **HandsomeOcto** :Nah. Where's the fun in that?

 **SquidSistersFan** :That reminds me, how are you two doing together with your show? I know I just kinda popped up one day and said "hey guys you should totaly just do the news" but from what I hear it's actually getting lots of traction and love

 **NoodlesForDays** :It's doing really well for what is essentially a Squid Sisters bootleg, and when we're not yelling at each other we're actually getting along smoothly.

 **HandsomeOcto** :Haha shut up.But yeah, I hate to say it, but partnering me up with K was a fresh idea  
Actually here's our latest show together. Take a look.  
                                                    We_Do_Things_On_Air.frsh  
Wait what. Seriously, K? This is the best name you could come up with?

 **NoodlesForDays** :Yes.

 **HandsomeOcto** :Oh

 **SquidSistersFan** :Okay I haven't watched all of it yet because I don't want to wake up the girls laughing, but it's really good. Way better than the first time where you two stared at the camera and read the news.

 **HandsomeOcto** :You talk about those two as they were your grand-daughters or something. And please do not remind me of those dark times

 **SquidSistersFan** :Kinda difficult not to do so with the age gap between me and them. I never thought I could like them more, but guess I was proven wrong. Here, I'll show you what I mean:

Alongside that last sentence typed by Octavio was a picture he took of the two squid Idols sleeping together on their couches during the sunrise, Callie had her mouth open and she was drooling while Marie was hugging the remainder of Callie's tentacles as if she was holding a teddy-bear. The two squids on the train looked at it for a moment and giggled at how silly they looked.

 **HandsomeOcto** :My heart

 **NoodlesForDays** :They really are cute together...

 **HandsomeOcto** :I  
You even managed to make K feel all cutsey inside. These guys are magical

 **SquidSistersFan** :More than that. Anyways I need to go, Callie looks like she's waking up and

 **HandsomeOcto** :Wait before you go.  
Could you please ask Callie to sign me an autograph? No name needed, just a "To my biggest fan" would make me over the moon

 **SquidSistersFan** :I'll see what I can do. But they were pretty spooked when they knew I was one of their fans, so I don't know how they'll react when they they know _you_ guys are fans

 **NoodlesForDays** :I feel as if I should feel offended about that last sentence.

 **SquidSistersFan** :Nah. Just a note. Anyways I got to go, Callie's waking up for sure. See you guys later.

 **HandsomeOcto** :See ya'

 **NoodlesForDays** :See you around, former soldier.  
                                                                                                        SquidSistersFan has exited the chatroom.

Callie and Marie re-read the session over and over, chuckling at several points before Marie announced:

-"Well, big news, Octavio has friends! And the Octarians apparently have news like us."

-"Yeah, and _I'm_ loved by a lot of them.", Callie added with a smirk and Marie rolled her eyes before the pink squid clicked the link that was given to Octavio, which opened a video, but she paused it and looked at Marie with a look that was asking her opinion at the matter.

-"Eh, it doesn't seem to be too important, and we still have 5 minutes to reach The Square,", she began, noting the 3 minutes and a half timer on the video, "So, bets on who the two presenters are?", Marie questioned and Callie thought about her question before theorizing:

-"Well, from the way Octavio talked with them, I'm guessing they're guys, maybe the Octo Brothers or something? Dunno really, only one way to find out!", Callie deduced and clicked the link, with the light-green squid next to her scooting closer, to the point where she was basically leaning on Callie at this point. The video began with a small logo, which was a black circle with some words in Octarian written on it, but it disappeared far too fast for Marie to make out what it said, and the camera shifted to a studio that seemed quite similar to the one she and Callie performed in, although much bigger, but what caught her attention most, were the hosts.

There was an Octoling siting on a regular-looking armchair on the right, where Marie used to stand when presenting the news with her cousin, she was expecting a younger Octoling, someone around her age, even, but instead she saw what appeared to be a war veteran. The Octoling seemed quite old, judging from his considerable height, the few wrinkles on his forehead and the respectable beard he had, it was nothing in comparison to her grandfather's, but it was still larger than your average everyday beard, his hair seemed quite tame, and he fashioned it in the same way that the men in Octavio's background did, she resisted an urge to go back the main menu of the phone to check whether or not she could recognize him and kept looking at him. He was wearing a strange mixture of official and casual clothes; he was wearing a green shirt with buttons, alongside a black jacket, although a small piece of his shirt wasn't completely fitted into his pants, which were fairly regular, he was also wearing a long light-blue tie that wasn't completely tightened and his left hand was covered with a black glove. It looked as if he was Mr."HandsomeOcto", and while he wasn't ugly, per say, age had taken a toll on him, but one could spy some handsome-ness that was somewhat present in his eyes.

The other host, present on the left of the screen, was a giant oarfish. Marie blinked for a couple of times and remained amazed; oarfish were an incredibly rare sight for anyone to see, as they only appeared once in a blue moon due to their habitats being so far down, and Marie assumed that the fact The Octarians live underground has helped them with recruiting one as a TV host. He wasn't wearing any clothes, like most other deep sea critters, and instead of a chair, he had curled up his massive body around a clearly terrified Octo-trooper, dangling his brush-like tail in front of him to maintain his attention, Marie couldn't see his full body, but from how many twists and turns he made around the small tentacle, she assumed that he struggled to show even that small bit of him on camera, his eyes, well, the eye that was facing the camera, as he was standing by his side, was amber and quite large, it seemed focused on the Octoling in front of it, and a bit of it was covered by one of his large, red and crest-like dorsal fins near his head that had drooped on it, although the oarfish seemed to pay it no mind, his light-green body was decorated with several dark-green blot-like forms, and he had a never-ending smile drawn on his face.

-"Good day, people of the underground! This is The Deep Dwellers coming at you with the daily news! I'm Tonga,", the Octoling introduced as a purple name-tag appeared on the screen along with a transcript of what he was saying.

-"And I'm Kermadec, the second member of this totally not Squid Sister-like musical group.", the oarfish followed up with as much of a sincere tone as he could as a dark-green name-tag appeared on the screen. His voice was creaky and hissy, and he didn't quite manage to pronounce the "r"s, probably because Octarian wasn't his original language.

-"One day, your honesty is going to get us splatted, Kerma.", Tonga looked at the sky before returning to the camera, "Since this is the daily news, you must know that we will tell you, wait for it, news!", the Octoling stood up from his armchair and began walking with a slow pace towards his co-host, "Could Thomas tell us anything about today's exciting events?", he asked, directing his speech to the terrified Octo-trooper as Kermadec brushed his face with his tail.

-"No, Tonga, this is James.", he corrected, his smile wavering a bit, "But other than that today is our pay-day, he can't announce much, now, let's get to the exciting events, shall we?", the large fish proposed and the Octoling agreed.

-"I'll never know why you replace your Octo-perches everyday, or why Octavio agrees to give you a new one every day...speaking of which, president Octavio has announced that he is doing well, and has broadcasted a speech from his phone last night, it seemed that he was still trapped in that splatted outpost that Marie set up, but he's doing fine, during his speech, Octavio asked the people to remain calm, he encouraged them to keep going the way they are going and he declared that the Squid Sisters are doing okay.", Tonga reported, with his voice just showing a tint of jealousy at the end.

-"Must be a job and half, to have to spy over one of the most important anti-Octarian forces.", Kermadec reminded while moving his head forward and the news host smiled and shrugged.

-"Eh, I could deal with it. But here's the big news!", he yelled out suddenly, as if he was trying to startle his co-host, but to no avail, the oarfish didn't even blink. He opened his hands and had an urgent expression on his face, like the one Callie wore whenever she had an extreme urge for peanut butter, "Today, a new place has been deemed acceptable to Turf War at: The Octo Valley! Indeed, without power the place seemed desolate and with no future, but after some renovations, it is now safe for all of your Turf War pleasures, y'know, in case you needed the training.", he explained as a large TV screen behind him displayed still-images of The Valley before turning to his partner, catching him off-guard "Any tips, Kerma?"

-"Uhhhh, oarfish are resistant to ink, and you should use them as meat shields...?", he blurted out nervously, it seemed he didn't have much experience with Turf Waring, as one might expect of an oarfish.

-"I ought to bring you on more trips with me to Turf War. But that seems to be as much time as we have right now, folks, which is a shame, I really wanted to talk about our newest song-", Tonga said with an irritated tone, before Kermadec cut him off.

-"Whiiiich we didn't even name yet. But I have high hopes for this one, I do, it might actually be worthy of being compared to Ink Me Up.", the green fish claimed with what seemed to be a hopeful tone, although the raspiness and creakiness of his voice made it hard to tell, and the older Octoling's jaw dropped while he lifted a finger.

-"That's...probably the most optimistic you've ever been about a song of ours...", he mumbled with wide eyes, but Kermadec paid no mind to his gesture and resumed the news broadcast.

-"Anyways, we'll probably see you folks in the afternoon news, as we have a few interesting bits of economy things to tell you, not to mention, the monthly splats report, I _love_ that part of the month. Or maybe we'll see you if anything of note happens.", he explained, his smile returning to its original massive size.

-"Yeah, that much I know...but until next time,", Tonga said as he headed towards the middle of the studio, and the giant oarfish left his perch and started 'swimming' towards his partner, who made a strange pose, but soon enough, it turned out that the pose was so that Kermadec could twist around him with ease; it seemed that this was their end pose, Tonga making a finger-gun with Kermadec twisted around him and holding the trigger with his tail. It was then Marie noticed another feature of Kermadec; his left eye was completely busted. It became obvious when he was tying himself around his workmate, but unlike his right, amber eye, the other one was purple-ish grey, with a large chunk of it the middle seemingly ripped out by force. The sight sent shivers up her spine.

-"Staaaaay out of The Deep, Dwellers!", they both yelled in union, but the recording didn't cut yet, and Tonga murmured:

-"We have to find a better catch-phrase...", he sighed.

-"We're still on air.", Kermadec told him between his teeth, and the Octoling seemed off-guard before the recording cut.

The two squid Idols on the train seemed thoroughly amused by what they have seen, as Callie was madly giggling and Marie was wearing an extremely large smile, which was only kept hidden by her face mask.

-"They're certainly special, these guys.", Callie finally said after she managed to control her laughter, "Not quite what I was expecting, though."

-"You and me both, Cal, I thought they'd be, well, younger, frankly, Tonga looks like he's Octavio's age, and so does Kermadec, speaking of which,", she turned the subject of her sentence, only for Callie to continue for her.

-"Yeah, oarfish?! Since when? I've only ever seen one, and that was on TV! To think Octavio has one working as a news host...I'm starting to envy him...", she admitted, while Marie gave her a smug smile.

-"I'm betting he's more than willing to swap positions if you tell him you'll deal with that Council.", she reminded her and Callie whistled in realization, "Still, they got style. I'm liking Kermadec so far.", she continued.

-"Is it because he's the one cracking jokes?", Callie asked and Marie shrugged her shoulders nervously.

-"You know me all too well."

-"That makes me more than pleased.", the pink squid Idol smiled as their train started stopping and the mechanical train voice announced:

-"Welcome to Inkopolis Square, where we have freshness in all shapes and sizes. Alongside apartments for tired Turf War-ers. Enjoy your time.

The two cousins hurried out of their train and onto the train station as soon as it stopped, relieved by the fact that their long journey had finally ended, and in a few minutes, the duo was heading out of The Lobby, reaching The Square right as the sun was starting to set and most shops were about to call it a day, much to Callie's dismay, as she was hoping to get a snack from The Crust Bucket, but the yellow truck had already closed its vending window. There wasn't much to do, so the two squids headed towards the sewer vent which led to their temporary home.

-"Home sweet home.", Marie muttered as she heading into the vent, and Callie followed her into their hideout. She was ecstatic to finally be able to take off her face mask, because while it served a purpose, it still wasn't the most comfortable thing to wear for a few consecutive hours.

-"Pretty fruitful day, wouldn'tcha agree, Marie?", the black-tentacle Inkling asked as she took off her sunglasses and leaned Rolly on a wall in the outpost, which now had an orange tint thanks to the sunset, "We explored the Square, found out some stuff about our as-of-yet innocent suspect, and found out that I'm waaay more popular with The Octarians.", she listed on her fingers, and Marie tried her best to ignore that last remark, sufficing with a glare towards her cousin, as she wasn't ready for a heated argument when she was this tired, in spite of the fact that Callie had done nearly twice as much effort as her, the white-tentacled Inkling looked twice as tired as the other squid.

-"Add "We spent more time together" and I'd consider it a solid list.", she compromised and Callie smiled at her.

"Thought that one was pretty obvious. But I thought you'd prefer forgetting about it after I splatted you with that curling bomb, I mean, you should've seen that coming a mile away!", her cousin joked and Marie glared at her.

-"Come on, Callie! How was I supposed to know how they worked? I never had any first-hand experience with them before today; they weren't introduced the last time I Turf Wared, if you hadn't known how splat bombs worked, you would've fallen for them in a matter of seconds!", Marie protested loudly as she threw her cap on a nearby chair she found, but when she looked at Callie, she saw nothing but horror in her eyes, much to her puzzlement. "Callie? Is something wrong? I didn't say anything wrong, did I?", Marie inquired, and her cousin lifted a shaky finger, prompting Marie to turn violently with Chargy out, and lo-and-behold, Octavio was outside of his globe, seated on a chair in their make-shift kitchen with his tentacles folded, and by the look drawn on his face, he wasn't in a festive mood.

-"Don't try anything clever.", Marie ordered, taking a step forward to try and intimidate Octavio, but it didn't seem to work, as his expression didn't change a bit, the only thing he did was extend an open tentacle with a demanding expression. Marie stared at the extended tentacle for a minute before turning to her cousin and searching through her pockets, causing the other squid to instinctively try and back away, but moments later, she pulled out Octavio's phone and handed it to him. "Now that you're satisfied, how about you return to your globe and we forget about all of this, yeah?", the light-green squid proposed, but Octavio seemed to ignore her proposal as he opened his phone and checked it for a couple of minutes before replying.

-"I told you that I left some stuff lying around so that you don't believe they're rubbish, not so that you could steal them!", he angrily accused while the two squids in front of him smiled nervously.

-"C'mon, we didn't steal them, we merely borrowed them for detective work!", Callie justified with enthusiasm and Octavio repeated with an unconvinced tone:

-"Detective work?"

-"Of course! We needed to prove if you were innocent or not, and to do so, The Detective Duo needed some evidence, evidence that could only be found on your phone!", the pink squid Idol explained, and Octavio looked like he was about to say something before giving up against Callie's logic. Marie noted that people always end up convinced with her logic, whether her endearing honesty or her child-like arguments were the cause or not, she didn't know, but she did know that they were effective, as Marie could testify.

-"Alright, what's your conclusion about Ol' DJ here?", he asked dryly, returning his gaze to his phone and pressing something.

-"You're all clean!", Callie declared and Octavio chuckled, "For now, anyways.", she followed up while he remained silent.

-"You even opened my Omail, didn't you?", he realized as Marie started lowering her Hero Charger, there were still many questions in her mind, including _how in the world did he manage to escape his globe again even after she had re-checked the lock_ , but she was relieved that he wasn't about to splat them for taking his phone, even if he was mad about it.

-"Yeah...sorry 'bout that,", the light-green squid apologized while she glared at her cousin, who sheepishly rubbed her shoulder, "But how did you figure it out?", she interrogated suddenly.

-"Because I hadn't opened the message The Council sent me. I hate reading these things.", he answered as he clicked something and Marie face-palmed; they had completely forgotten about the whole 'Don't open unread messages' thing that was often mentioned in detective shows.

-"Wait, you hate reading them? I thought they'd be top priority for you?", Callie stated a confused tone while Octavio sighed as he clicked something on his phone.

-"You read it already. You should know how bad these things are; they want me to make a crucial decision these days, and I consider myself enormously lucky because they can't come to me here and ask me why I haven't replied to their omails...", he began and Marie consoled him.

-"Never knew these were the conditions you had to work under, how'd _these_ guys even get in their positions anyways?", she questioned with irritation before following up, "I mean, you seem to love your people more than any of them do, so what gives?".

-"No, you don't...it's just that...ugh, this is why I shouldn't have told you about my phone, now how am I supposed to explain Octarian politics to you?!", he yelled out with frustration before regaining his usual calmer tone, "Listen, it wasn't _always_ this bad, there was a time when we worked for the same goal, but now there are just too many problems to solve without a drawback, I knew we'd reach this point eventually, but I always hoped I wouldn't be the one to make the decision...", he explained regretfully as the two squids in front of him listened attentively.

-"Which option are you going to pick, then?", the two of them said in union, and Octavio seemed disappointed by the question.

-"Do _you_ want a Second Great Turf War?", he asked with mockery while the two Idols shook their heads in panic, "Then it's pretty clear what I will do. Please, drop the subject at this point, it's gonna be pretty complicated to explain, and I didn't even have my dinner yet, sooo...", he announced while Callie yelled excitedly.

-"On it! Just gimme a sec to change my clothes, and I'll be there in an instant.", she said before heading to a more secluded part of the outpost, and Marie found herself face-to-face with an Octavio outside his globe.

-"So, uh, what were you guys doing outside anyways? I worried about you, y'know.", Octavio spoke after a small moment has passed while Marie lifted her eyebrows, "I mean, who was going to make me dinner? The last time I touched cooking utensils I had "The Octavio Delicacy" for breakfast. I'll give you a hint: It wasn't good.", he followed up as the light-green squid laughed.

-"Don't worry about your dinner, big octopus, we were just Turf Waring and spending time together.", she assured him, "But don't worry your hearts too much about your "grand-daughters", we'll leave a note next time.", she teased him and he sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to escape Marie's snarks about that one sentence he wrote.

_"So you opened my chatroom with Tonga and Kermadec too, eh? Should've been expected at this point.", he murmured as Callie came back with more casual clothes: a plain magenta shirt and some black shorts.

-"They're certainly special in their own way, I'll give them that much.", Marie declared and Octavio laughed.

-"Why do you think I made them present the news in the first place? I knew the underground needed high spirits while I was "captured" by the Inklings, and these two were perfect for the job.", he proudly claimed while Callie intervened.

-"They could use some training, but I think they suit the job, and give Tonga this, tell him I liked his performance.", she complimented cheerfully while handing a small paper to Octavio which he read out-loud:

-"To my biggest fan, Tonga, staaaaay fresh!-Callie", he read while Callie opened their fridge and started thinking about something to cook for all of them, "This is gonna give him a heart-attack, but it's a nice gesture on your part, thanks.", he commented as Callie got out some frozen minced meat from their fridge and headed to the cupboards.

-"No problemo, but tell me, when and how did you find an oarfish that's willing to work for you? I thought they were elusive!", she demanded while she dug out some pasta from their cupboards and Octavio replied instantly:

-"I knew Kermadec would charm you two! Frankly, he's probably the only good thing that happened to me while I was in Kamabo.", he answered then continued after he saw the bewilderment on their faces, "No, he wasn't working there, and I don't know whether or not he was stuck, he never told me, but he helped me get out of that forsaken place, and since then I always owed him one, so I thought making him a news reporter for the underground would be a good pay-back. That, and that I wanted to utilize his grand musical skills in an actual band."

-"Shame we never got to hear those musical skills.", Marie noted and Octavio remained silent for a moment.

-"...I'll try and find an 'Inkling Friendly' song of theirs and give it to ya' as soon as I can.", he promised as Marie "aaaaah"-ed; a war veteran and his buddy probably weren't too keen on Inklings.

-"Alright Marie, dinner should be ready in abouuut... 20 minutes? Just change your clothes and I'll finish it.", Callie ordered as she pulled Marie 's hand, but the other Inkling greatly objected.

-"What, and leave you with Octavio?! That ain't happen-"

-"Oh shut up, what benefit would I have for squidnapping her again? I only wish for her well-being at this point, so don't worry about me.", Octavio assured her, and while Marie didn't believe him, she could only agree to her cousin's promises that she'll be fine, and so she headed to change into her 'home-clothes', so to speak. She didn't take much time, ten minutes at most, before heading back to her friend and her...frenemy(?) with a replica of Callie's 'home-clothes', the only difference being that her shirt was green.

When she returned to the two cephalopods, it seemed that all was well, as they were talking about something while Callie was preparing dinner.

-"...Frankly, I don't use them because they're my style, at this point, I'm using them because of nostalgia; I got that briefcase the first day I started working with Jack Pieuvre, and that coat's been with me for as long as I can remember.", Octavio was recounting to Callie as she stirred their dinner. That was all Marie heard before she lit a few lamps around their outpost; it was getting dark, and it's not like they were short on lamps, as Callie bought whatever she considered to be a "cute-looking lamp". As you'd expect, she considered many lamps to be cute. But after she finished lighting up the place, she headed to their kitchen and took a seat that was near Octavio's.

-"Any plans on returning to your globe anytime soon? I know that we're "frenemies" and all, but I, uh, I just don't quite trust you to the point of letting you out yet.", Marie spoke out after a small moment of silence had passed, and Octavio seemed slightly disappointed.

-"Figures. Truthfully, life outside the globe is way less cramped and way more fun, but I guess I'm in no position to object.", he eventually agreed to her demand before trying to compromise, "But how about you give me a daily hour outside, yeah? Would make things nicer.", Marie thought about his demand for a while, it wasn't out of line, but the last time she thought one of his requests were reasonable, she had to push his globe and listen to his orders for a few minutes. But while Marie was absorbed in her thoughts, Callie responded instead.

-"Suuuure, why not? Just make sure that daily hour is sometime we're at the outpost, wouldn't want you alone with our stuff now, would we?", she said with uncertainty, and Octavio rejoiced for a minute with a small "Woo!" before he remained silent, and for a few minutes the only sound in the outpost was a sizzling sound produced by the minced meat Callie was cooking.

Their night continued in this fashion after dinner, which would've devolved into a food-fight because of an argument on which squid did better during their Turf Wars if it wasn't for the fact that the two squid Idols were way too tired to do anything, as evidenced by the fact that the only thing they did afterwards was sit on their beds, Callie doodling in a drawing book of hers and Marie reading a small book titled "Deep Sea Fauna and You: A Guide" in an attempt to figure out more about the purple octopus' bone-y friend, but it seemed oarfish were pretty mysterious, with only the bare basics about their biology known. Octavio headed to his globe as promised, even if he was fairly grumpy about it, Marie checked the lock no less than 3 times before heading to her bed, yet she still wasn't too sure he was going to stay locked. She brushed those thoughts aside and tried seeing if the book she was reading had any footnotes or anything that could help her understand Kermadec better, but to no avail, even the Inkternet's information about their social lives and cities could be summarized into: "They exist."

-"I think my day's about to end...", Callie suddenly yawned as she was sketching something, Marie looked at her clock and agreed, at this time, Callie's early bird nature should've gotten to her a while back.

-"Mhmm.", the light-green squid nodded in acknowledgment as her cousin put her drawing books on a table next to her bed, "Did you wash your teeth?", she asked, imitating her grandfather's tone and Callie emitted a tired laugh as she lied on her bed.

-"Sure thing, wouldn't forget about something like that now, would I?...Don't answer that, please.", she begged as Marie was about to say something.

-"Alright, fine, I won't push your buttons.", Marie obliged as her cousin started pulling her covers. It was after a small while had passed that she spoke up again, "I never thanked you for the dinner, did I? If not, then thanks for the dinner, Cal, it was really good."

-"No worries, partner! It was the least I could do after you took me Turf Waring with ya'! I swear, this was the most fun I've had in months!", she happily replied, although with a tired voice still.

-"I think I should be the one thanking you, especially since you were the one that thought about taking Octavio's phone in the first place, our day would've been a heck of a lot less exciting without it.", she thought before adding, "My days in general would've been extremely boring without ya', Callie."

-"Aw, Marieee...", her cousin trailed off with a tired voice, "You know I don't know how to respond to nice talk, what am I supposed to say?", she complained shyly before resuming, "Wait, I know: You big softie, you...I think my life would've also been pretty boring without my bestie to spice things up...", she replied with a sincere tone.

-"And you say you don't know how to respond to nice talk...well, goodnight, Callie, I think I'll also sleep now, I need more sleep after how much effort I did today.", she said as she put her book on a small table next to her bed and blew her cousin an air-kiss, to which she replied with a similar gesture, although far more tired.

-"Goodnight, Marie...", and with that, the two squid Idols pulled up their covers and headed to sleep, after such a fruitful day with her cousin, Marie was overjoyed, things seemed like they going to be splendid between the two, and Marie couldn't be happier about it, and so, she closed her eyes, hoping to have a dream or two about the Turf Wars they had together, with the small alteration of her winning the Moray Towers battles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I wanted to make this chapter shorter than the last one? Good times.
> 
> But yes, welcome back all, I have returned with another chapter, one I immensely enjoyed writing, and I certainly hope you guys enjoy it, too, this one mostly focused on The Squid Sisters, as one would expect from this fic at this point. Again, I tried to smooth many edges in this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it, but if you believe anything, and I mean anything, could use some tuning, then I am more than willing to hear your suggestions, comments and ideas on how I can improve. On a side note, could anyone advise me on how to make end notes look better? As of right now, it seems they stack on the latest chapter instead of each individual chapter having its notes be exclusive to it, which doesn't quite suit me.
> 
> I also wanted to announce something very important, you see, in the following period, I'm going to have far less time to write, as such, the delay between chapters may increase even more, and I may very well be able to post only one or two chapters per month, but even then, I'll try my hardest to continue this fic in the following period, as I'm really enjoying how it's going, still, apologies for the upcoming delays.
> 
> Anyways, until next time, staaaaaay fresh!


	4. Two Old Men.

When Marie woke up, she started getting up in her bed in fear of being yelled at by her cousin, but much to her surprise, it was already 10 A.M. yet Callie let her sleep, she wondered if her friend had overslept, but her bed was empty and neatly made. Marie started looking around the outpost, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that Octavio was still inside his globe, although with a bored look drawn on his face, but having him bored was better than having him squidnap her best friend. It's what Marie always used to say.

-"Finally up from your sleep, sleepyhead?", a voice asked from beside her, and Marie turned her head to see Callie with her arms folded standing next to her bed.

-"Yep, best sleep I've had in a while. Surprised you didn't wake me up, though.", she replied as Callie gave her her hand and helped her get up from her bed, which she did with difficulty; this was Marie, and she still didn't like getting up from her comfortable bed.

-"Weeell, considering how much effort you did yesterday, I figured I could let you sleep for just a little while longer, but don't get used to it too much now, we'll be back with our regular early schedule tomorrow!", Callie explained as Marie started walking towards their kitchen, wobbling here and there.

-"Wasn't planning on doing so, but thanks for the heads up.", Marie responded as she took a seat in their kitchen, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to fully open them.

-"Hey, don't be so down about it now, I'll give you a break today.", the pink squid Idol cheered her cousin up, who looked at her in disbelief, was she truly going to let her sleep for the day?, "A _break_ fast!", she punned loudly, anticipating a reaction from Marie, who remained expressionless for a second before laughing and covering her eyes with her hand.

-"Well, I was gonna have to accept puns into my life one way or another, considering my own name is one...", she muttered as she looked back at her energetic cousin, who looked confused.

-"Considering your own name is a pun? What?", she asked with a head tilt, her right tentacle hitting the ground in the process, Marie wanted to ask if her already extremely long tentacles had gotten longer during the time she was away, but she returned to the question at hand.

-"Do you like calamari rings, Callie?", the white tentacled squid hinted, emphasizing on the word 'calamari', but her cousin seemed to miss her point.

-"Do I?!", she enthusiastically yelled back at her cousin with a large smile, "In your words, Marie, they're mor...bidly...delicious...", she started slowing down as something clicked, and Callie remained with a blank expression for a moment before looking at Marie, "I can't believe I never noticed this until now...but what makes you so sure that it's not just a happy coincidence?", she asked, still amazed at the pun.

-"I never noticed it either until your second adventure with Octavio.", Marie confessed, she was actually slightly disappointed that it took her nearly twenty years to notice it, but when she did, boy was she amused, "And I don't think it's a coincidence, remember that you're one week older, and auntie has a taste for these jokes...I'm willing to believe that she convinced my dad that my name should be Marie.", she explained, and Callie laughed.

-"Well, there you have it, proof that we should stick together, if nothing else, it needs to happen for the pun to work and...wait, I'm older than you?!", she suddenly realized before following up, "Wait, I _am_ older than you!", she remembered and Marie slumped, if there was one thing she didn't like to remind Callie of, it was the fact that she was older than the light-green squid Idol, even if the opposite seemed to be true, and it was a fact Callie cherished with her life, teasing Marie about it whenever she'd have the chance.

-"Yeah, yeah, I still remember that, thank you very much, what do we have for breakfast?", she tried changing the subject to avoid a whole lot of jokes, but Callie smirked and answered:

-"Trying to change subjects, I see!", she remarked and Marie groaned, but much to her happiness, it seemed Callie had decided that she would be merciful with her this time, as she returned to her question, "For breakfast, we have eggs and toast. Alongside your beloved coffee."

-"Sounds like a deal to me, chef.", Marie concurred and the pink squid immediately handed her a plate and a cup, which Marie took with a slightly astonished expression.

-"Things get real boring without you around, so I tried making the time go by cooking.", she explained with her extremely speedy voice, and Marie nodded in acknowledgement.

-"You do you, Cal. Kinda wish I had your talents when it comes to cooking, though...I kept eating the same meal for three months before I tried cooking something different when you were away.", she recounted as she took a bite out of her breakfast, indeed, during the months she remained in the outpost, she only thought about changing the meal she 'cooked' for three consecutive months when Octavio, who usually ate anything he was given, seemed to be on the verge of tears one day after being handed his dinner, which drew her attention to the fact that she too was starting to loathe the sight of the canned sardines she used for every meal of the day.

-"You did what now?", Callie interrogated, completely and utterly dumbfounded, and Marie could only smile nervously at her before taking another bite out of her breakfast, "Well, that means we need to resume your training as soon as possible, starting today, you'll make dinner!", she ordered, and Marie could've sworn she heard Octavio gasp, as the large invertebrate seemed to massively prefer Callie's cooking to hers, but she did enjoy her so-called "cooking lessons" with Callie, so she nodded excitedly and hoped that whatever she makes today doesn't cause her cousin a stomach ache.

Their breakfast was fairly quiet after that, the duo was far too busy eating to think of any subjects, and Octavio was also too absorbed in his breakfast to yell out something from inside his globe, so their morning was fairly uninteresting, and it seemed like their day was going to continue in that manner, as Marie was still too exhausted to try another day of Turf Waring, and after breakfast, she was seriously thinking about trying to convince Callie that they should take the day off, until she received a message from their grandfather. She didn't quite believe her eyes at first, but after the initial surprise, she ran over to Callie to make her read it in their gramps' voice.

-"Gramps sent another message?!", the pink squid Idol asked with an unbelieving tone, grabbing the phone from her cousin and opening the message immediately before impersonating her grandfather:

 _"YOOOOOO_  
_How do you do my homies//???_  
_I've missed you a boozle lot_  
_I'm sure you missed MC.Craig too_  
_but don't sizzle your heads anymore because I'm coming home!_  
_gimme about an hour and I'll be here, till then, keep being da' bombs_  
_P.S wear the disguises I'm bringing some of my boys with me"_

Even though the writing style was similar to his last message's, the two Idols still remained slightly dumbfounded for a moment, Marie even took the phone from her cousin's hand to make sure she read that correctly, even when it was a text message, which meant that they didn't have to endure their grandfather's writing, which usually led to a whole lot of confusion, such as that time Callie misread "I'm doing fine" as "I'm doing dine.". As one would expect, many hours were spent searching for this "dine" he was doing.

-"He's coming home?!", Marie yelled excitedly while Callie was nearly jumping in her place, "My goodness, we have so much to tell him: that you're back, about Octavio, and I had a few questions about these friends he made in Kamabo...", she listed with an overly happy tone; they did truly miss the old squid, and they've been wanting to see him for a while now, so his surprise visit couldn't have been better timed.

-"Alright, we have an hour to get ready, so let's hop to it, wouldn't want gramps to think we're a couple of lazy squids!", Callie ordered as her co-Idol remembered something, and she checked the message again to see when she was sent, and much to her horror, it was sent 50 minutes ago. Upon informing Callie of the news, the two of them started running around in circles around the place while screaming in panic before Marie stopped, tried to calm down and grabbed the pink squid Idol by her shoulders then started shaking her.

-"Snap out of it, Cal! We need to manage this as quick as possible, you get your disguise, I'll hide Octavio!", she started commanding her cousin, who obeyed and Marie sprinted for the globe and tried to unlock it, which wasn't an easy process after her attempts at reinforcing the lock to keep Octavio inside.

-"...Uh, what's going on in here? Am I being squidnapped?", he eventually asked after a while with a puzzled tone as Marie finally managed to open his snow-globe, "And what's with the show over there? Hey, let go of me!", he shouted as Marie grabbed one of his tentacles and started dragging him to their outpost.

-"Listen, big octopus, gramps is coming home, and he's bringing some people with him, so we're gonna have to hide you for the moment, yeah?", she explained rapidly, and Octavio, while still unable to completely take in what's happening right now, tried co-operating with her and stopped struggling.

-"Waitwaitwait, Cuttlefish is back? And who exactly is he bringing with him? Isn't this place secretive and all?", he replied, but Marie ignored his question for a minute, she didn't know how much time they had left, but she knew it wasn't much, so she focused on bringing Octavio to the one place she knew no one would find him in:

-"...Are you going to really throw me inside your wardrobe? How would I even breathe in there? When will I get out?", he continued his questions, and Marie grumbled something to herself before deciding that Octavio would work with her better if he got his answers.

-"Listen, I don't exactly know the details of what's happening, I just saw his message, I know that he's coming, that he has people with him, and that I _am_ going to throw you in our wardrobe, if the air gets low, there's always the key-hole.", she answered as she tried pushing him into the wardrobe, catching him by surprise and closing the doors.

-"Hey! What was that about?! You could've just asked!", he loudly protested from inside the wardrobe, he most definitely didn't enjoy hiding inside a wardrobe, nevermind being forcibly pushed into it.

-"I was afraid you'd refuse or something, but I have a favor to ask ya'", she justified and Octavio went silent, so Marie took the silence as a sign that he was listening, "Could you please try and remain inside? I don't know who's coming with gramps, but if they see you, it's gonna cause us a whole lot of issues, just stay here and look through the key-hole and...I dunno, use your better judgement, I guess.", she finished for a while and took her breath, hoping that Octavio will comply.

-"...Fine, sure, I'll use my better judgement. But if said judgement tells me that getting out is reasonable, I'll do so, got it?", he compromised and Marie thought about how many things she can do to try and make him remain inside,"Consider it payback because I was shoved inside a wardrobe and had to breathe through a freaking _key-hole_ ", he added as a yellow-ish green eye with a blue pupil appeared in the key-hole of their wardrobe, and Marie couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

-"Uh, Marie, why is there a green eye inside our wardrobe? And where did you hide Octavio?", a voice asked from behind the light-green squid Idol, which made her jolt for a minute; she thought it was her grandfather, but luckily for her, it was Callie, all dressed in her disguise, except for the sunglasses, which she seemingly forgot.

-"Where do you think I did?", she responded as she looked at the wardrobe, and Callie couldn't help but yell a "No..." before snickering wildly, and Octavio sighed from his temporary prison, "Anyways, I gotta get my disguise, 'kay? You just stay here and find your sunglasses.", Marie told her cousin, who nodded quickly before scavenging around for her sunglasses.

Changing her attire didn't take too long, fortunately, as she was afraid she might be too late, and after about five minutes, she was heading back to her partner, although gasping; her being able to wear her clothes extremely quickly didn't mean she liked it or that she was used to it. She shrugged the thought off and joined Callie, who finally found her sunglasses, and started waiting for their grandfather, who was arriving any second now.

-"Any second now...", Marie repeated her thoughts after about 10 minutes had passed, she was really anxious to see the old Cap'n again, and she was going to be massively disappointed if he had to delay his visit. Not to mention, Octavio was never going to let her hear the end of it if he discovers he was shoved in a wardrobe for no good reason, and Callie agreed with her, as evidenced by the mixed emotions of excitement and worry on her face.

But soon enough, a sound started coming out of the sewer vent that led to the outside, it seemed like something was coming through, and the two squid Idols seemed thrilled, as Callie started clapping her hands in excitement, and a moment later, something popped out of the vent: a small, grey and mustached squid that was wearing a white cap that covered all of his head. Not one second later, the grey squid transformed into his Inkling form, he was fairly short, with Callie and Marie nearly being twice as tall, and his outfit was quite odd, it was composed of some green pants alongside a green long-sleeved shirt that had a few white lines decorating it in many areas and several military medals that he had received in his old days as a fighter in The Great Turf War that he was far too proud of to even consider taking them off his clothes, and he also had a set of headphones around his neck, alongside a pair of square-ish glasses that dangled on his small nose and rested on his beard, which was composed of a few tentacle-like white extensions. There was no room for doubt, it was the one and only Cap'n Cuttlefish. Although wearing some peculiar clothes, but at this point, it was to be expected of him.

-"Gramps!", Callie yelled as she sprinted towards the older squid and gave him a large hug, squeezing him a little in the process.

-"Agent 1!", he replied with a slightly muffled tone due to his grand-daughter's bear hug, which prompted her to lighten her grip. The old Cap'n mostly referred to his grand-daughters by their agent names ever since he recruited them to The New Squidbeak Splatoon, something about secrecy since "you never know when an ear will break through a wall.", but the two Idols never protested; they enjoyed it, it made them feel more profreshional, and the cover-names grew on them after the first two months of him using them, "What are ya' doing down here, squiddo? I thought you had work to do!", he exclaimed while returning the hug to the cheerful pink squid.

-"I took a vacation, gramps! Where have you been? We worried about you!", she answered, not letting go of the shorter old squid as Marie started approaching them, her smile only being hidden by her face-mask.

-"Doing the usual, Agent 1, just protecting Inkopolis.", he replied while trying to pull out of Callie's hug, without much success, the pink squid had missed her grandfather far too much to let go of him so easily.

-"That's not what we meant, gramps! What was the whole Kamabo business you told us about? What were you actually doing?", Marie entered the conversation as she lightly pushed Callie away to give a hug to her grandfather in her turn, in spite of the slightly accusing tone of her question, she mostly did it because how much she worries about the old Cap'n, ever since his squidnapping with Octavio, she just couldn't trust that he'll be fine on his lonesome.

-"Uh...yeah, 'bout that...it's a bit of a long story, but I promise I'll tell you two today, Agent 2, just give me a moment to catch my breath, this adventure hasn't been kind on my ol' cuttle bones.", he said while trying to stretch his back before returning to his cane, which he used quite often to help him get around quicker, "But I hadn't even asked the important questions yet! How are you doing, squiddos?", he asked with as much of an excited and happy tone as possible.

-"We've been doing pretty good,", Marie answered as Callie happily nodded, "We both took a small vacation from work these days, y'know, to relax a bit and see each other again, Callie's vacation was actually a surprise one, but I'm not complaining.", she continued and he smiled.

-"Well ain't that wonderful to hear? I worried about how you two were doing when I was out there, without the Inkopolis News gig it was kinda difficult to know how you were doing.", he started explaining, waving his cane here and there for dramatic effect, something he did every so often.

-"Yeah...sorry about that, it was out of our control, really, but they needed some new presenters, and I had some issues that prevented me from continuing...", Callie sheepishly replied while rubbing her shoulder, but her grandfather seemed understanding enough.

-"Nah, I get it, sometimes you gotta change the lizz in your life...but what were you busy with, if you don't mind me asking?", he suddenly interrogated and the two cousins in front of him looked at each other for a moment in terror; both of them knew that they'd have to talk to him about Callie's squidnapping at some point, but none of them wanted to, in addition to the subject already being disliked by the duo, it would've had catastrophic results on the Cap'n, and he probably would've tried splatting Octavio, "Uh, is something wrong?", he pulled them both out of their thoughts, and Marie took the lead:

-"It's nothing, Callie and I had a few things to do in The Canyon after you told us that Octarian activity was starting to bubble up here, and it took longer than expected, not to mention that I-, sorry, _we_ had to train a new recruit!", Marie half lied before trying to redirect the old squid's focus to the last part of her sentence, but he seemed to have a strange look on his face, something between approval and slight disapproval.

-"You two shouldn't have worried yourself about these things...I mean, you two have grown so much ever since our time together in The Caverns, and I'm more than grateful that you two tried to continue without me, but you shouldn't have...and during my time out there, I got to know that some Octarians aren't all that bad, that my perception was slightly foggy about them, so to speak.", he stated while the two squids in front of him seemed unbelieving for a second.

-"Now you _gotta_ tell us what happened to you out there for you to change your view point so much about The Octarians, I mean, I agree with you, but you always worried about The Octarian Menace... is it because you started wearing...glasses?!", Marie finally noticed, feeling a slight sense of disappointment in herself because of how much time he had spent in front of her before she remarked that her aging grandfather had indeed started wearing glasses.

-"Took ya' long enough, Agent 2! How do you like 'em? Agent 3 was the one that bought 'em for me, he said I talked way too often to street lamps, and while I never agreed with him, mind you,", he stated as he noticed that the two squids in front of him were giggling, "These boys showed me a whole new world, so I guess he had _some_ truth in what he was saying.", he reluctantly admitted while Marie gave a "Suuure" with smirk.

-"Well, they look pretty fresh on ya', gramps.", Callie complimented and he seemed quite honored, as evidenced by his attempt at straightening his back while saluting the pink squid Idol, "...And now that I remember, I've been wanting to ask, what's with the way you write your messages now? Actually, who taught you how to send messages using your phone? Agent 3?", she hypothesized and her grandfather laughed for a second.

-"The boys I've made in Kamabo taught me all sorts of things, Agent 1, including how to rap!", he announced, much to the apparent horror on the energetic squid's face, which he remained oblivious to, "I knew there had to be something else for me in my retirement other than fighting Octarians, and I've taken up rapping as a hobby, just wait you two, soon enough MC.Craig's gonna steal this city's light!", he shouted with an air of overconfidence as he pointed towards the sky with his cane, his glasses slightly tilting back, and Marie was certain she heard hysterical laughter coming out of their wardrobe, "Wait a second...what did you say about that new recruit, Agent 2?", he returned to Marie's announcement, and she took a relieved breath as he seemingly forgot asking about what happened to Callie.

-"Oh yeah, during our time in The Canyon, we needed a little helping hand, so I've gone ahead and recruited a young Inkling girl that stumbled into the outpost, dubbed 'Agent 4'", she started explaining to her grandfather who listened wide-eyed, not that it was a difficult thing for him to do with his massive eye-size, but still, "I've written a 'Factopedia' about her if you want to know more, but I think she's perfect for the job.", she resumed her explanation.

-"Well, I'll see about this 'Factopedia' you're telling me about, but at this point we'll be having an army soon if we count my new recruits!", he stated with enthusiasm as his two grand-daughters seemed to be caught off-guard.

-"Wait, you got new members?! Who are they? When did you recruit them? How did you recruit them?", Callie started firing her questions one after another, slightly overwhelming her grandfather, who, while somewhat used to her behavior, still wasn't nearly as familiar with it as Marie.

-"Easy on me, Agent 1! I think you can ask them yourself, since I told them to wait outside while I prepare the outpost!", he happily announced, pointing at the vent, seemingly waiting for something to come through before a realization hit him, "Oh shoot, I forgot about that!", he yelled out nervously before pulling out his antique phone and starting to type something while mumbling to himself, "All...clear...come...on...in, there, they should be here any moment!"

-"Wait, don't tell me you forgot to tell them they can come in...", Marie started figuring out what worried her grandfather, who whistled with fake innocence, prompting Marie to jokingly glare at him while Callie laughed, but their moment was interrupted by another noise coming from the vent that led to their outpost, someone was arguing with someone else that they should back out to let them through, the voice was vaguely familiar to Marie, although she couldn't quite recognize it...

- _"Now lemme say with complete and utter ease, that these guys are the one only MVPs!"_ , her grandfather rapped and he pulled her out of her thoughts, his rapping wasn't _horrid_ , but it wasn't quite a masterpiece either, as her cousin's bemused look could testify. After a few seconds of his sentence with him awkwardly holding his arms up and pointing towards the vent with his cane, something popped out, a fairly minuscule, pink-ish beige squid emerged and hit the ground with a hard _plop_ , groaning in the process before being followed by two octopuses that also hit the ground unprofreshionally, although their landing didn't seem to be quite as harsh; it would seem that the trio was caught off-guard by the length of the vent, which was quite short.

The first squid started to assume her Inkling form, and Marie was unable to process what she was seeing, it seemed like the Inkling in front of her was none other than Pearl, yes, the Inkopolis News one. Her clothes were different than her normal performance ones, although they seemed to be less of a disguise and more of a simple way to relax from her job, judging by the fact that none of her facial features were even remotely hidden. Her usual white bland crown was replaced with a far more luxurious one, or so it seemed to Marie, as it was both golden and decorated with seemingly real, different colored _jewels_ , must've been pretty courageous to walk with that thing out in public, especially considering the fact that it didn't seem anchored to anything, as evidenced by the short squid Idol trying to readjust it after assuming her Inkling form. The rest of her clothes were also pretty eye-catching, she was wearing a long, thick and golden necklace that ended with a ring surrounding a four-limbed star-like figure that reached her waist, although that was more dependent on how short she was, not how long the necklace was, she was also wearing a baggy pink-ish sweatshirt with beige sleeves that nearly extended to her knees and almost completely covered her hands, with only her fingers, which wore several golden rings, poking out, and she was also wearing some rather plain grey platform shoes, which struck Marie as odd, considering how luxurious the rest of her outfit seemed to be, but she shook the thought off as she started predicting who one of the octopuses that dropped was going to be, and she smiled as her prediction proved to be right: It was Marina.

As with Pearl, her outfit was changed to a more casual one; she was wearing a white bandana decorated with some grey symbols that was twisted around her head, although serving no real purpose, as her tentacles still seemed as free as ever, and they definitely didn't look like they helped maintain her headphones in their place, it seemed that, unlike Pearl, her outfit was ever so slightly more faithful to her performance one; it was composed of a white croptop with a turtle neck, resembling her black leather one, although obviously lacking the zipper, some light-green pants and some grey shoes that were decorated with the questionable choice of bows. She was also wearing a similar necklace to that of Pearl, although silver instead of golden, and the ring was surrounding an eight-like symbol and a black wrist-watch alongside a black chain on her right arm. Unlike her co-star, who walked about as if the place was hers towards the Cap'n, Marina was far more cautious, scanning the place and leading a far younger and shorter Octoling girl that Marie couldn't recognize, although she did recognize the black leather uniform that she was wearing, formed of a croptop and some shorts, which belonged to the Octarian military. Barely refraining from asking her grandfather about her, she decided to admire her for a while, it looked like she tried to avoid attention for the most part, mostly sticking to following Marina and Pearl, and other than her bright red tentacles, which greatly contrasted with Marina's black-ish green ones, there was nothing about her that particularly stood out, she was fresh out of the underground, it seemed.

-"That one could use some more time in the oven, Cap, but you're getting better.", Pearl directed her speech to the aging squid in front of her, as she was the only person who could actually look him in the eye without looking down, with a smile, and he seemed to appreciate the advice.

-"I'm getting better, eh? You better be afraid, 'cause one of these days MC.Craig's gonna steal ya' lights! You just wait and see!", he repeated while taunting her, and she actually seemed slightly challenged.

-"Keep on dreamin', Cap! Talk to me when you stop using that rapping book of yours.", she taunted back at him with a sly smile and he returned it, it seemed the two were actually about to enter a heated fight when Marina grabbed Pearl's shoulder and pointed towards the two squids that were watching their argument.

-"Pearl, not now...", she begged with a slightly tired voice, as if the two squids had argued several times before.

-"Yeah, you back out before MC.Craig roasts ya'!", the old Cap'n yelled out as Pearl glared at him before the two shared a small laugh, "I'm getting good at these things!", he finally stated while both Callie and Marie were unsure on how they should act on the sight that was unfolding in front of them before their grandfather started introducing them to the Off The Hook duo, "Pearl, Marina, I'd like you to meet Agents 1 and 2, the very first members of The New Squidbeak Splatoon!", he introduced, pointing his cane at Marie and nearly hitting her in the process.

-"Agents 1 and 2? Oh, so we're doin' cover-names?", Pearl figured out and started planning accordingly, "Name's MC.Princess, aka MC.Danger Noodle, aka MC Reverse Psychology-", she started to list before Marie interrupted her.

-"I'll stick to Pearl, thanks.", she said as she gave the shorter rapper her hand for a hand-shake, which she immediately took and started shaking her violently, much like Callie's surprise hand-shakes, which helped Marie be somewhat accustomed to the situation until Pearl let her hand go and repeated the gesture with Callie, with the main difference being that Callie shook back with as much force as she could, slightly shaking the shorter squid.

-"Whew, you don't hold back, do ya', Agent...", she tried to say, but she had apparently already forgotten which squid was Agent 1 and 2, so Callie continued for her:

-"1, and nope, holding back is not quite my style.", she answered energetically, and Pearl agreed with her.

-"Now that's something I can get behind!", she yelled out, raising her hand and waiting for the pink squid to give her a high-five, which she did instantly, "Anyways, this right here is DJ Hyperfresh, aka DJ Cold Breakfast, aka-", she started listing again while pointing to Marina, who started approaching the squids slowly, the young Octoling girl following her, still not saying a word.

-"Marina!", Callie completed the beige squid's sentence with excitement; it's not secret that she had been begging for a chance to properly meet an Octoling, so her getting to not only meet one, but for that Octoling to be Marina was most certainly a miracle for her, and she demonstrated her happiness by taking the taller Octoling's hand and giving her one of her tornado hand-shakes, catching the Octoling by surprise.

-"Easy on her, One! Try holdin' back a little, would ya'?", Pearl commanded as Callie smiled nervously and tried apologizing, "It's alright, just calm down a little.", the short rapper assured her, making her breathe a sigh of relief; she was afraid she messed something up.

-"So what did you guys do to be "the real MVPs"?", Marie interrogated, looking at her grandfather as the Off The Hook duo in front of her laughed.

-"Not much, really.", Marina spoke up with a humble tone as she shrugged, but Pearl strongly disagreed with her.

-"Yeah, not much, just saving Inkopolis from an evil telephone that tried to destroy it with a massive splat-laser!", she added onto her co-Idol's sentence, glaring at her a little while putting a knuckled fist on her waist, and the two cousins' jaws dropped, now they _had_ to know what on earth happened; _splat-laser?_

-"Which reminds me... do we have any more agent medals, Agent 2?", Cap'n Cuttlefish spoke up again as he remembered something, and Marie shook her head.

-"Negative, Cap'n, we used all of them with Agent 3.", she replied and he slumped a little on his cane before cheering up again while the Off The Hook stars looked at each other in puzzlement.

-"Well, we don't need those things for Agent ceremonies now, do we?", he rhetorically asked as he turned to the rapper and her friend, "Come here you three, would ya'? And stand in a horizontal line.", he started ordering, and the three cephalopods obeyed in an unsure manner, and the old squid started talking:

-"In the name of justice, I hereby bestow upon thee a heavy responsibility, and thou shalt keep this ceremony as a secret for as long as you shall live.", he began and the three of them looked at each other before Pearl emitted a "...sure" and Marie laughed with Callie, it was always fun to see new people be confused by Cap'n Cuttlefish's strange entry speech to The New Squidbeak Splatoon, and she realized how much she wanted to see Agent 4's reaction to the speech, "Blah blah, yada yada yada, the details are boring.", the aging squid cut his seemingly serious speech, the trio in front of him still madly confused before he started talking to Marina, "Marina Ida, for your assisstance in saving Inkopolis, you are now an honorary member of The New Squidbeak Splatoon.", he announced, but Pearl seemed outraged.

-"Honorary? After all she'd done? What did we say about you and Marina, Cap'n?", she threatened him while Marina tried calming her down, but he ignored her threats and started directing his speech to her:

-"Pearl...something,", he continued in spite of her large "Hey!", "For your assistance in saving Inkopolis, you are now an honorary member of The New Squidbeak Splatoon.", he repeated and she seemed to calm down.

-"Oh, so it's just because we're the new guys? I guess that's acceptable...", she mumbled to herself as the old Cap'n turned to the young Octoling girl, and Marie was anticipating this moment.

-"Agent 8, you know the drill, you are now an official member of The New Squidbeak Splatoon.", he finished and Pearl yelled at him again.

-"Hey! What's the big idea, we did as much effort as she did, maybe even more! What makes her an official member?!", she questioned him and he gave her a sly smile.

-"Because she's the only one I saw with my own two eyes doing stuff.", he teased her and she started fighting with him.

-"What, did you turn blind when I blew up that massive statue?", she yelled back at him as Marina interrupted both of them.

-"Technically, Agent 8 managed to make it fire a half-powered laser, which must've _slightly_ helped.", she clarified as the two looked like they were gonna yell at each other again.

-"Now, excuse me for intruding on your important talk, but can anyone explain to me what happened that I don't know? I mean, splatting laser? Pearl blew up a statue? _The Cap'n now knows how to rap?_ ", Callie inquired as they looked at her, and the Cap'n took the lead:

-"That's only fair, what do you say, boys?", he asked the three cephalopods, and all of them replied with a "Yeah", except for Agent 8, who sufficed with an energetic nod, "You see, it all started when Agent 3 and 8 were fighting each other, something then happened, the ground caved in, and we fell down into a metro station while I got separated from Agent 3.", he started recounting as he patted the young Octoling girl, who silently nodded, "Now, we didn't know where we were, but I knew one thing, Agent 8 was a fan of Calamari Inkantation, and as I always say, no fan of The Inkantation is a foe of mine; I don't see species.", he declared and Marie gave him a confused look.

-"When did you ever say that, Cap'n?", she asked him as Callie agreed with her, and she fought against the desire to tell him that Octavio _adores_ The Inkantation, but he shrugged their question and continued his story.

-"I must've said it _sometime_ ", was all he sufficed with, and Marie resisted the urge to disagree with him and contented with giving him a smirk, although much to her dismay, she noticed that it was covered by her face-mask, "Anyways, so we made a truce, me and her, and started heading around the metro station, where we found a weird phone thing standing in the middle of a room, it told us this thing about the greater good and then gave 8 these thingies and told her that he could help her if she gave him some "Thangs" in return.", he continued, and Marie started noticing a striking similarities between the telephone her grandfather was speaking of and the machine that Octavio was terrified of, "Anyways, after that a metro appeared, and we jumped right in, I mean, where else were we going to go, right, 8?", he poked the young Octoling, and she looked like she was about to say something before deciding against it, "Then we met a delightful fella, C.Q. Cumber!", he cheerfully exclaimed while his grand-daughters looked horrified, and Agent 8 shuddered violently, but he seemed to be unable to understand their horror.

-"Dunno what happened to you three all of a sudden, he's a really polite sea cucumber, and he told Agent 8 that he would lead her to the "Thangs" that crazy telephone wanted if she completes some tests, it seemed simple enough, really, so we went through with it.", he explained, and Marie couldn't help but ask:

-"Did he, by any chance, refer to the place you guys were in as 'Kamabo'?", Marie asked quietly, hoping with as much force as she could that the answer would be negative, but he merrily shook his head, much to her dismay.

-"I'm not sure about that "simple enough" aspect, Cap'n, you never saw the tests yourself, did you? Eight says they gave her a really hard time...", Marina protested as Agent 8 looked at her with a thankful look, as if she was waiting for someone to stand by her side.

-"You can talk, y'know, we're not gonna be mad at ya'", Callie tried assuring the young Octoling girl, but she remained silent, even though she returned Callie's offer with a happy look.

-"Anyways, that's when we came to the fray!", Pearl picked up the story with an excited tone, "Marina managed to somehow do a thing-a-majik and find the Cap'n's phone and Eight's weird C.Q. device and started telling them about what's happening up above, so we became, like, their eyes up above or something, anyways, we basically saw Eight doing those tests, and after a few weeks, she actually beat 'em and got the 'Thangs'!", she exclaimed, raising her fists into the air in celebration, but while this all was good, there was one main thing on Marie's mind.

-"Hey, did Agent 8, by any chance, fail at one of these tests?", she asked with her best 'normal' tone, which wasn't easy for her given the situation; she was trying to figure out if C.Q. was really as bad as Octavio recalled, she hoped the answer would be negative, as she would've had a massive urge to scream if it turned out her grandfather was stuck with a sea cucumber that had no problem whatsoever with detonating people who fail his tests, but much to her and Callie's terror, it seemed the answer was that yes, he was truly _that_ bad, or so it seemed judging by Agent 8's facial expression, which was a mix of embarrassment and horror.

-"Oh did she ever!", Pearl joked as she patted the younger Octoling's back, who jolted forward before scratching the back of her head nervously.

-"Yeaaah, the tests weren't all that simple, and Eight did struggle with a few, she never told me what happened when she did, although she mumbled something about C.Q. and bombs.", Marina clarified and Agent 8 nodded, the look of horror still in her eyes.

-"Eh, I think you guys are exaggerating a bit, C.Q. is an extremely polite sea cucumber, he'd never do such things!", he claimed confidently, and Marie started internally debating herself on whether or not she should tell him about Octavio's tales, she eventually settled on not telling him for now, as no harm seemed to be done. Well, no _physical_ harm, Agent 8 had a very angry look of disagreement drawn on her face. "Anyways, after Agent 8 got the 'Thangs', we returned to that weird phone we found in the beginning and told him that we found the stuff he wanted.", he continued his story, oblivious to Agent 8's expression.

-"And what happened then? Did you finally get out?", Callie questioned, but her grandfather shook his head negatively.

-"Nah, something odd started happening, the telephone started...screaming, for a lack of a better term.", he replied as his grand-daughters listened, trying to anticipate any event that could've followed, and their gestures must've been fairly amusing to their guests, "And then it assembled the pieces into a machine, I mean, it looked fairly regular, so Agent 8 and I just hopped right in, and then something strange happened,", he tried to say, holding his hands up for dramatic effect.

-"Lemme take it from here, cap.", Pearl took the lead of the story, which he didn't quite appreciate, "See, this totally normal machine looked like and _was_ a giant blender, and since cap and Eight jumped into it with no thought, the telephone was going to turn 'em into smoothie, if it wasn't for someone else!", she corrected the Cap'n sentence with slight mockery, and the two cousins said in union:

-"Marina?"

-"Aw, thanks for your trust, guys, but I'm not the one to thank here, it was actually an agent of yours...what was his name again?", the taller Octoling thanked them with a slightly flustered tone, and Pearl finished for her:

-"And you say I have bad memory, you!", she teased her friend, "His name was Agent 3, if I recall."

-"Agent 3? How did he even find you guys?", Marie asked, slightly taken aback by the announcement; Agent 3, while a very great agent, wasn't exactly a great searcher, he did better as a listener who followed orders.

-"I dunno either, but he managed to save us using his head, and without him, we'd have smoothied!", her aging grandfather answered, not satisfying his grand-daughter's question, and before they could ask, he already replied; while their grandfather was often oblivious to the things around him, he definitely knew much about his grand-daughters, and he probably predicted her question, "Yes, I mean that he literally crashed the blender with his head and knocked himself out.", he said as Marie fought against a laugh, "Anyways, so after that I stayed with Agent 3 to make sure that he's doing okay while Agent 8 tried finding another way to get out, since that telephone wasn't getting us anywhere.", he finished his story and for the first time, it was Agent 8 who spoke up, startling Marina, who she was standing right behind.

-"Yeah...I then got up this strange maze filled with Octo-troopers that didn't listen to me and a some lasers that tried splatting me before I reached a long elevator.", she said with a small voice, she stuttered a little, as Inkling seemed to remain a foreign language to her, and she seemed to be cautious with her words, looking at the two cousins to see if they were mad, but they only smiled at her, encouraging her to talk further, "That's where I found Agent 3 and the Cap'n...", she trailed off before shuddering and taking a deep breath.

-"Hey, hey, it's alright, Agent 3's on your side now, he just wasn't himself when you two fought, okay?", Marina told her in an attempt to calm her down, and the Cap'n continued her speech for her.

-"So you two remember the phone I was talking about?", he directed his speech to his grand-daughters, and they nodded, trying to figure out where this fits into the story, "So apparently it wasn't all busted when Agent 3 crashed it, because it tried shooting this weird... green slime-thing at him, he dodged most of it, thankfully, but some of it hit his head, and the crazy thing brainwashed him!", he angrily exclaimed while the two squids looked surprised; that makes two members of The New Squidbeak Splatoon that got brainwashed.

-"But don'tcha worry, Eight here is a real fighter, and she managed to knock some sense into your friend...actually, she knocked him out, but it's close enough.", Pearl reassured the two squid cousins, but they weren't sure if that was a better result.

-"After that, we got onto an elevator that took us to the surface, and there it was, home sweet home, Inkopolis!", their grandfather yelled out happily as Marina joined his sentence.

-"Yeah, and thanks to a small tracking device, Pearl and I managed to find them with the Heli, so they got on and we were about to call it a day!", the taller Octoling DJ announced, but instead of cheering with her, Callie asked her:

-"So what went wrong _this_ time?", she joked and the cephelapod group laughed, even the quiet Agent 8 joined the laughter.

-"Lots of things.", her grandfather replied, trying to maintain a light tone, but his sentence didn't help his cause, "You see, once we got on, the platform we were standing on turned out to be a massive statue of these ancient beings, these things called "Humans", it started rising out of the ocean, and guess who was commanding it?"

-"The phone?", the two squid cousins guessed in union, and he approved.

-"Those are my...Agents.", he barely stopped himself from revealing their true identities, although his abrupt stop did earn him a confused stare from his newer recruits, "So the phone turned out to be an ancient machine constructed by that ancient race to tell us something...buuuut it apparently hated us so much because we obsessed over trivial matters and waged wars for no good reason?", he quoted and Marie couldn't help but think that the phone had a point, at least until her grandfather continued, "So it apparently decided that destroying us with this green slime laser-thingy he created was an ideal solution."

-"Yeah, it was a really bad situation; the statue was drawing energy from the sun, and it didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon,", Marina added onto his speech, "But luckily, I had these hyperbombs on the Heli, y'know, in case we ever needed them," she explained as she received a slightly bemused look from the two older Agents; what kind of situation would necessitate _hyperbombs?_ , "So I dumped them on the statue and Eight here started detonating them to block the sun and stop the laser, but that phone didn't stop; it was gonna fire either way.", she explained, and before Marie could ask why Inkpolis wasn't a mass of slime right now, Pearl added onto the story.

-"That's when I wailed at that statue! Sure, it killed my throat, and I don't think I'll be singing for a few days, but hey, it's better than having Inkopolis destroyed.", she jumped in, clarifying after Marie started raising a finger to try and ask a question, "Yeah, I admit, I have a Killer Wail with me, I sometimes use it to train my voice, y'know? I just never knew I'd be able to scream so hard I'd sink the thing!", she boasted as Marie and Callie clapped in an attempt to show that they appreciated what she did, even though they weren't able to fully understand what was being said, "Anyways, that's the story of how Marina, Eight and I saved your Cap'n, the rest of Inkopolis and became members of The New Squidbeak Splatoon, you?", she asked Marie, who responded with a smirk, which was covered by her face-mask, again. She was really starting to think about trading it for Callie's sunglasses.

-"Oh, nothing much, really,", she began with a fake tone of humility, "We just saved Inkopolis, The Great Zapfish and fought against the Octarians three times.", she listed quickly, and Marina paled, but Marie was more focused on Pearl.

-"...You listen here, I don't know what you're hinting at, but if you are about to try anything clever with Marina, I AM GOING TO CUT A FEW FISH, DO YOU HEAR ME?!", she suddenly yelled, taking Marie back by shock, and much to her surprise, Callie stepped in front of her and growled:

-"I'd like to see ya' try!", she intervened and stood between her cousin and the shorter squid rapper, glaring at the latter with a threatening look, and Marie wasn't certain what to think of the situation; on one hand, she greatly appreciated her cousin's reaction to help her, and she would've gave her a good hug if it wasn't for their visitors, on the other hand, this was something she could use to her advantage at their ever-continuing argument of who's a bigger softie...

The atmosphere remained tense for a few minutes, with both sides remaining silent before Pearl burst laughing.

-"Sorry 'bout that, I over-reacted a bit, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who's overly-protective about my friends...and I'm guessing you already know Marina's an Octoling.", she apologized and the two laughed with her.

-"Aw, Pearlie...", Marina whispered to her co-star and she turned to her.

-"T'is nothing, Marina...just, no "Pearlie"s in front of other Agents, please.", she ordered her, and she obeyed with a smiled while Marie teased the shorter squid:

-"Don't worry, Pearlie, no hard feelings against Marina or Agent 8, we're all in the same boat now, protecting Inkopolis against all the odds, the only difference now is that you two present the news, which might make it difficult to sneak out and save Inkopolis if an evil mastermind tries to take over it.", Marie reassured the Off The Hook duo while their grandfather seemed relieved.

-"Only during Splatfests, but any evil force that respects itself would wait for the Splatfest to end before attempting to destroy Inkopolis!", Marina joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, although she did seem to be worried about something, as her joke was slightly forced, but nevertheless, the cephalopod group laughed in union.

-"Speaking of people in the same boat, whatever happened to Agent 3?", Callie wondered as Marie started thinking about the subject as well, and their grandfather answered nonchalantly:

-"Oh, nothing, he's fine, he just left us to get himself something from that weird van that showed up, said that this adventure needs some time to be fully processed, whatever that means, I mean, he only ended up with a small bandage on his head."

-"...A bandage that covers the entire back of his head, and a very...special smell.", Marina added onto his answer, feeling sorry for the agent, and the two squid cousins in front of her shared her sentiment, after Callie's brainwashing, she needed a while to fully take in what happened, add onto that being smacked clueless until you snap out of it, and you have a fully confused squid with a large bandage on his head "But he said that he'll take Eight in with him, since she doesn't know all the ropes yet, like what Pearl did with me when we first met.", she continued with a more cheerful tone as she looked at her co-Idol while the young Octoling agent seemed to think about something, although with a smile, Marie noticed.

-"Well isn't that nice of him?", Callie stated, but Pearl seemed to disagree.

-"Nice until you know that he's making Eight sleep on the couch because of what she did to him when he was brainwashed, but I'm sure he'll soften up quickly.", the beige squid told the black-tentacled one, who emitted a small "oh" before the cephalopod group laughed again. They then remained silent for a moment, as Callie and Marie had no more questions, their grandfather was busy thinking about something, and Pearl and Marina were quietly saying something to Agent 8, and the silence remained for a moment before Marina cleared her throat and spoke up:

-"...So since you saved The Great Zapfish, I guess you know who squidnapped it, don't you?", she asked, and Marie hesitated for a moment before looking at her cousin, who in turn looked at their grandfather; they weren't certain they should reveal such important information, but the aging Cap'n nodded casually, and so Marie nodded to the taller Octoling, who scratched her neck nervously.

-"Ah...I see...I, uh, worked for him, y'know?", she announced and Callie looked incredibly surprised, Marie, on the other hand, not so much; Marina is an Octoling after all, what else would she do?, "I was a Flooder engineer...sorry about that...but now, now he's gone after his big thing blew up, probably holed up in the underground again!", she shouted with a slightly angry tone, and Pearl joined her.

-"Hey, calm down Marina, that nerd's probably regretting the day he brainwashed you guys, now he's got no one by his side anymore! Zip, nada, 'cause that's what he deserves!", she shouted in spite of her ordering Marina to calm down, and Marie eyed their wardrobe quickly, which seemed calm enough before Callie entered the conversation:

-"So...you don't like Octavio, I'm guessing.", she hypothesized with a slightly worried tone, almost as if she wanted to tell her that the person they're trash-talking is just behind them.

-"Like him?! He _brainwashed_ us! And for what? To make us serve under his tyrannical rule with no freedom of our own? Dunno about you, but I wouldn't like someone like that, the only reason I even got out of his brainwashing was because of the Inkantaion.", Marina greatly denied the idea, and Marie felt a mixture of emotions; she wanted to tell Marina the truth, or comfort her, but she felt that she wouldn't quite believe her, especially considering that would reveal that they have Octavio inside their wardrobe.

-"Yer' right on spot, Marina!", Marie's aging grandfather jumped into the argument, much to Marie's dismay; she was hoping this argument would end at this point, "That good for nothin' Octo-slob got what he deserved, I hope he's having fun, being locked inside a snowglobe while his soldier abandon him!", he yelled out, earning Marina's approval, although she seemed to be unsure of what his last sentence meant while Agent 8, on the other hand, was about to say something while a look of disagreement started growing on her face, and just at that moment, a loud, crashing noise echoed through the outpost, making everyone jolt towards the sound's origin: the wardrobe.

-"ENOUGH!", an angry voice shouted from behind them, and the two squid cousins looked at each other with a 'This is gonna suck' expression, it didn't take them long to figure out where that shout came from, it was as clear as the sun that Octavio had broken out of his prison.

So much for his better judgement, Marie thought as she turned towards their wardrobe to see the purple octopus standing out of it with an intimidating stance, which didn't work too well, considering one of Callie's shirts was stuck to his head, which was a bright-pink shirt that had a heart on it, she bought that one after their last Splatfest together then wore it for the few following weeks whenever she'd hang out with her cousin, and Marie always had an unspoken love for it, but it definitely didn't help his position, not that he minded, as he stomped very quietly and angrily for someone that had a pink shirt on their forehead. Callie and Marie kept their stances, their grandfather seemed half surprised, and his gaze shifted between the large cephalopod and the open snowglobe, which he just noticed, yet he still tried to remain calm, it looked like. Pearl was generally confused, unable to understand what was going on, as she has never met Octavio before, but who was really struck by his appearance, was Marina.

Sure, Agent 8 had a look of intimidation drawn on her face, but it was drawn out of respect, not complete and utter undulated terror, like Marina's, who started blabbering nonsense until Octavio march came to a halt, as he stood directly in front of her, next to the Squid Sisters, and Callie snatched the shirt of his forehead, prompting him to whisper a barely audible "Thanks", which Marie would've missed if it wasn't for how close he was standing next to her.

-"I lived, squid.", was all he uttered, and Marina's face was starting to lose its color, while Agent 8 was stuck in a never-ending military salute, which she only dropped when he gestured to her with one of his tentacles, "What, you didn't think I'd let you trash-talk me when I was right there, did ya'?!", he shouted, and Marina needed a moment to recover her forces before trying to shout back:

-"I-I'm not afraid of you anymore.", she said with a calm tone, and Octavio had a mocking expression on his face before replying:

-"I know you're not, you shouldn't be. None of you.", he answered warmly, much to her apparent surprise, before he headed to Agent 8 and directed his speech to her:

-"I remember you, you were one of my better soldiers, if I recall. Shame I never got your name, care to share it?", he stated in an attempt to make her feel at ease, but she only slumped and looked at him with a hopeless look and he was unable to understand her, but before he could say anything else, Cap'n Cuttlefish intruded.

-"So you're still up and running, eh? Would've thought you decided to go back to your home after we beat you up with Agent 3.", he dryly joked while pointing his cane at Octavio's 'chest', and the purple octopus remarked:

-"Isn't that the same bamboozler you nearly shot my arm off with? Keeping it for the memory, aren't you?", he questioned as the aging squid looked at him with a judging eye before he finally shook his head affirmatively.

-"Did it once, could do it twice.", he challenged the octopus, but as he finished his sentence, Octavio had pushed his old Charger away, focusing on heading towards his former engineer, who was regaining her composure.

-"How're ya' doing out there?", he asked, losing the slightly hostile tone he had in the beginning, but Marina wasn't convinced by it.

-"Are you trying to play the good guy here? After everything you've done? Do you think I'll ever possibly go back, after my soul has been freed?", she shot at him, possibly anticipating a reaction, but he remained calm, or at least, attempted to, but his knuckled tentacle wasn't helping his situation, and Marie thought about preparing Chargy for a worst-case scenario, but she decided against it and just watched how the events would unfold. Then she'd have to explain to her grandfather what his sworn rival was doing inside his grand-daughters' wardrobe.

-"Maybe I am! Maybe I'm trying to forget about everything in the past and make a fresh start here!", he yelled at her, trying to ignore her skeptical look before resuming, "I don't think you're going to come back, not with how successful you are here, I'm not living under a rock, y'know, I'm just...hoping to explain some things.", he explained with a cautious tone, attempting to avoid any conflict with Marina, but before she could reply, Pearl had stood between the two of them.

-"So _you're_ Marina's ex-boss! I've heard a lot about you, Mr.Brainwasher, and I'm tellin' ya' right now, you're not on my favorite people's list, you hear?", the shorter squid rapper threatened, standing up to him after finally realizing what was exactly happening, and he glared at her.

-"Maybe you would've preferred having Marina blended into oblivion, then!", he yelled at her with irritation, obviously not appreciating her interrupting him, "Or maybe you'd have preferred her to be stuck in Kamabo for the rest of her life! The only reason she's standing next to you, is because C.Q. thought she wasn't up for being in Kamabo, and that's thanks to me brainwashing her, otherwise she'd have been nothing more than another one of those "sanitized" Octolings you saw in that forsaken place!", he continued his yelling, and both Pearl and Marina looked at him, slightly confused and dumbfounded before the former answered back:

-"Yeah, right, what makes me believe you? You could be spewing nonsense for all I care about, what I do know, is that if you don't back-off right now, you'll be in a world of pain!", she threatened him, but instead of backing off, the large octopus smirked at her and challenged:

-"Then make me back-off.", was all he said, taking a step forward in the process, and Marie was going to object about what was happening, but before she could say anything, Pearl had raised a fist and lunged at him, and instead of bracing for impact, he maintained his stance, Callie gasped and in a moment's notice, Pearl had hit him, although instead of hurting him, or even making him yell, he merely grunted as her fist 'sunk' inside of him, much to her, and everyone else's, confusion.

-"Woah...it's like a big...sponge!", the short squid rapper finally spoke up with a more humored tone as she pushed her fist in more, surprising Octavio with her reaction to the matter, as he grunted again, his face shifting to a more uncomfortable expression as she lunged her second arm in, only for the same thing to happen, "How does this even happen? Is this another Octarian thing? It's like a large ink-blob!", she started laughing as Marina approached her, and Callie seemed intrigued, as she started going closer to inspect the scene, and Marie couldn't help but follow her cautiously, trying to see of this was a trap he's playing on them.

-"That's because it is!", he finally replied to her while pushing away and gasping loudly, trying to take his breath, "Those were my lungs...", he coughed before talking with the beige squid, "Now that's some enthusiasm you got! I can respect that...uh...Princess.", he mumbled, trying to remember her name; it seemed he hadn't payed much attention to when everyone was introducing themselves.

-"Close enough, it's Pearl. And I can respect someone with some semblance of a sense of humor...I guess...", she reluctantly admitted while Marina have her a glare of disapproval, which she didn't catch.

-"I mean, it's more of a defense mechanism than anything, I just inflate my octopus form with some ink to maintain this really big size for intimidation purposes, but it's more or less because I look cooler this way and can wear nice-looking thingies.", he explained casually, moving his tentacles around for demonstration purposes, but Pearl didn't seem quite interested.

-"Yeah, yeah, you know, Marina's the one into these things, so you could've explained it to her if it wasn't for the fact that you're, like, evil and stuff.", she shrugged off his explanation, earning a glare from both him and Marina.

-"But I'm not! I would've done way worse things to you if the only reason I was brainwashing you was because I was "evil and stuff", why didn't I send you all to attack Inkopolis if I didn't care about your safety? You would've fought better without fear, and since I already said my troops do some dangerous jobs, it's not like anyone could've blamed me.", he tried justifying himself, and Callie supported him:

-"I mean...he does have a point, the worst he's ever done with you guys was make you fight against us, and it's not like there were no respawn machines nearby, so no real harm was done...", the pink squid concurred nervously, trying to check if her cousin or their new agent-friends were upset with her, and wouldn't you know, it seemed Marina was not appreciating how everyone, Cap'n Cuttlefish not included, seemed to be softening up to Octavio.

-"Are you serious, One? You guys aren't actually starting to believe him, are you? Let me remind you that I was forced to work under his command for 6 years!", she reminded with a slightly panicked tone, pointing at the larger Octarian suddenly, which made him take a step back.

-"Hey, _you_ were the one that applied for The Flooder design team!", he tried defending himself with a slightly aggressive tone of voice.

-"Because I didn't know I'd be brainwashed for most of my life there! We were only given our freedom inside the main cities and when we were on vacation to see our families, any other time, it was the same tune that you used to brainwash us!", she yelled back at him, and instead of arguing back, the larger cephalopod simply sighed.

-"Listen, I'm sorry, okay?", he apologized, and although his tone wasn't completely convincing, Marina seemed shocked for a moment, "I told you the truth, you didn't forgive me, that's okay, I did do some questionable things in my life, I'm not going to deny that, so instead of trying to prove that I wasn't all that bad, how about that fresh start I was talking about?", he suggested, handing her a tentacle of his to shake, which she didn't take.

-"I...I just don't know if I can trust you, really.", she justified herself, slightly losing the tone of hostility that was in her voice, which made Octavio cheer-up a bit, even when he did look disappointed by her not shaking his tentacle.

-"Yeah, could kinda see why, considering the only interactions you had with me were the messages I sent you and the occasional visit to the research facility, in which we would average 3 words per sentence, so how about a token of...trustworthiness?", he proposed with an awkward smile that looked more like a forced one, and Marina nodded after a minute of debating herself, then Octavio's waist suddenly had a large pocket surface up it, at first, Marie thought he was going to assume his Octoling form, but instead, he managed to maintain the surfaced pocket for a few seconds before pulling out a large file, must've been one of his mentioned skills, she thought.

-"What's that? My military file?", Marina asked with an unenthusiastic tone as Octavio handed her the file with a sly smile.

-"Oh, so you don't want it? Alrighty then, guess all the letters Ida's been sending me for the past few months are gonna have to wait-", he wasn't even able to complete his sentence before Marina snatched the file from between his hands and nearly tore it apart in her hurry to see what's inside it before looking back at Octavio.

-"Dad?", she wondered, unable to comprehend what he just said, and both Callie and Marie looked at each other with the same expression of amazement, so _this_ was Ida's "Little Marina", "And what's with the money?"

-"The cash's from me, when I didn't know you made it big and when he was sending me an average of three bird-drones per day with messages to deliver, you can keep it, considering I'm actually a captive here and so it means nothing to me anyways.", he answered casually, pointing at the two cousins who tried to appear as if they were monitoring Octavio to cement his last sentence before a wave of silence overcame the outpost, no one was certain what they should say, and the only sound echoing through the outpost was Marina rummaging through the contents of the file, pulling a closed envelope every now and again and opening it, quickly skimming through the letter that was bundled inside it, she repeated the cycle for a few minutes while everyone else remained silent, not knowing what to do exactly, except for Pearl, who slowly approached Marina and started reading with her, the taller Octoling not paying much attention to her co-star.

-"Seems like a fun guy.", the beige squid rapper finally said with a slightly shy tone, probably trying to not push any of Marina's buttons.

-"He's really proud of you.", Octavio spoke up after clearing his throat to gain her attention, which made her look at him, "Probably the only Octoling in the underground that listens to your music _before_ listening to the Squid Sisters.", he tried joking to ease the atmosphere, but Marina kept staring at him until he resumed his sentence, "We're not mad at you, you know, we're all really happy that you got out, and if you ever...y'know, miss any of us, we're always here for you, the underground's open for you at anytime, Marina, just say the word.", he finished his speech with a hopeful smile, which she clumsily returned with uncertainty before he seemingly remembered something of importance, "Oh, and for crying out loud, send him an o-mail, man's been splatting to find yours, here's his address.", he handed the Octoling singer a piece of paper which he pulled out of his strange 'ink-pocket', which she hesitated before grabbing.

-"...Thanks, it means a lot to me.", Marina finally managed to speak out after a moment of observing the paper that was handed to her, and although her tone of voice wasn't completely trusting of him, the large purple Octopus breathed a sigh of relief, alongside Callie and Marie, as he managed to not start a massive fight between him and Marina that would've probably ended very badly. Hooray for better judgement, Marie thought.

-"Yeah, no worries, I'll let you finish your meeting party with everyone else, so...uh...see you on live TV, I guess.", he replied, trying to keep a casual tone of voice but failing at the end, and he started backing away, waving clumsily at Marina and Pearl, the former returned the wave with a bit of uncertainly while the latter returned it energetically. If nothing else, this meeting party has at least reassured Marie that her cousin will get along rather nicely with the newer New Squidbeak Splatoon members, given how much energy Pearl was demonstrating.

-"Ayo, so we gotta head back up soon, we have some news to present, but it was a real pleasure to meet y'all, I hope we can work together for reals saving Inkopolis from who-knows-what, but I think we gotta go, right Marina?", Pearl announced from beside her co-star, who nodded absentmindedly, not fully paying attention to what the shorter rapper said.

-"Feeling's mutual, Pearlie, we'll tell ya' if anything of note happens, but until next time, see ya'.", Marie responded back, earning a glare from Pearl as she said 'Pearlie' while Callie was busy shaking hands with their new agent fellows.

-"You're all welcome at anytime to come over, and if Eight needs anything, you can count on us!", she assured them, winking at Agent 8 and earning a small chuckle from her in the process, but Marie didn't exactly agree with her statement, as while the place _was_ a base of operations, it was also their current home, which didn't quite make her comfortable with Callie telling them that they could come at anytime, especially since this time they didn't have keys or doors, unlike their apartment.

-"Yeah, the New Squidbeak Splatoon is lucky having earned you three, and I'm more than happy that everyone's getting along,", the old Cap'n returned to the conversation as the Off The Hook duo and Agent 8 were preparing to leave prompting them to thank him and give him a small wave, "Oh, and I'm sorry about this little...issue we had, I'm gonna have to do some pest control around this place...", he apologized, his gaze shifting to Octavio, who folded his tentacles and 'humf'-ed at his sentence, "And till next time, _Don't ever think this squid's gonna retire, cuz next time you see me I'll be spitting fire_.", he rapped at them as they were about to jump through, and Pearl actually seemed to think that it wasn't half bad.

-"Y'know something Cap? This one wasn't actually horrible, maybe next time you won't need that book.", she joked with him and he gave her a glare, making her laugh in the process, "Stay off the hook y'all, c'mon guys, follow your elders!", she saluted before directing her speech to the two Octolings behind her, and with that, they all jumped in union through the vent, although Marie could've sworn she heard one of them bang their head on something...

-"Our catch-phrase is still cooler.", Marie declared after she was certain the trio got far enough to not hear her as she took off that dreaded face-mask that was really starting to make her itch and need some air, and her cousin laughed loudly, alongside Octavio and their grandfather.

-"That's one thing we can both agree on!", Callie agreed enthusiastically with her co-Idol, throwing her glasses on the nearest table she could find before heading to her grandfather, "But seriously gramps, you recruited Off The Hook?! Now that's something I don't think any of us saw that coming! Not that I'm complaining, just a little surprised.", she exclaimed loudly as Marie took her cap off while nodding, and he tried stretching his back while wearing a proud smile on his face.

-"Just goes to show that I still got what it takes to surprise you two!", he proudly gloated before resuming, "Still, I'm really content with what they did to help Eight and I in Kamabo, and I'm certain they'd do well in the New Squidbeak Splatoon.', he claimed as his grand-daughters agreed with him.

-"Yep, pretty sure Marie and I will work great with them, maybe we can even surprise them as the Squid Sisters in the studio one day, what do you say, Mar?", she proposed, and Marie thought for a minute about her proposal; sure, it would've taken them some preparations and time for a collaboration between them and their newer members, including slightly tweaking their voices so that their identities as Agents 1 and 2 don't get spoiled away, as while they were getting along nicely, they weren't sure they could quite reveal such information to them, even Agents 3 and 4 got that bit of information under urgent conditions, but on the other hand, a show with the two of them would've been quite the show, and she was more than certain she could enjoy her time trying to tease Pearl, so she sufficed with a "Yeah".

-"...Speaking of surprises,", their grandfather cleared his throat, staring at Octavio, and the two squid Idols knew exactly what he was about to say, yet neither of them were anticipating it, "Do you two care to explain what the Octarian leader, the one who squidnapped The Great Zapfish, tried attacking Inkopolis and was probably the reason you two were stuck in The Canyon, was doing inside your wardrobe?", he interrogated, trying to remain as calm as possible, although with an unhappy tone, and the two of them tried to come up with a good excuse.

-"Uh...We just didn't want him to be spotted by the new members? I thought that could make them panic or something...", Marie finally admitted after a few minutes of the two cousins "oooh"-ing"and "aaah"-ing.

-"So you thought that keeping him in a wardrobe that wasn't even locked with a key was a better idea?", their grandfather facepalmed as the two of them laughed nervously before he returned to his regular attitude, "Oh, forget it, thankfully he didn't hurt anyone, and I don't want to kill the mood, so to speak, but I am curious, what did he do in The Canyon, besides stealing The Great Zapfish?", he cheerfully inquired, but his cheerfulness was met with a look of absolute terror from his grand-daughters, and Octavio dropped his tentacle-fold and stared at them from behind him, seemingly completely blank when it came to ideas on how to present the subject to the older squid.

-"Well...he built a big flying machine again... made a big concert and...", Marie's explanation quickly devolved into her mumbling something so quietly that Callie, who was standing right next to Marie, wasn't able to make out what she said, and her grandfather seemed to grow more and more suspicious of their explanations. Silence reigned over the outpost and continued for a few seconds before being cut by Octavio.

-"And I squidnapped and brainwashed Callie.", he stated calmly, with a tint of guilt in his voice, but for the most part, he tried to keep his voice completely devoid of any sign that could make the Cap'n think that he was proud doing it, not that it helped in any shape or form, however, because it was then Callie and Marie saw their grandfather, for the first time since forever, most probably, boiling with rage and surprise.

-"YOU DID WHAT?!", he grabbed what he probably though was Octavio's collar, but the highest point his hand could grab was his chest, not that Octavio appreciated it either way, but what made everyone in the outpost panic, was that they heard the old Cap'n's bamboozler charge a shot, "I just _knew_ I could never trust _you_ with my grand-daughters, even after everything we talked about, you good-for-nothing Octarian scum squidnapped Callie...", he started blaming the purple octopus while pointing at him with the now-charged bamboozler, and Marie was seriously thinking about intervening whenever she musters enough strength to speak up, as the situation was going south far too quickly for her, and her cousin's, liking.

-"Hey! What about that whole 'No fan of The Inkantation is a foe of mine' business? I'm the biggest fan of the Inkantation!", Octavio tried defending himself, with some semblance of worry floating up in his tone, which you would expect from someone who's being pointed at with a Charger, and Cuttlefish's reaction was something between thinking about the purple octopus's objection and disregard for what he said.

-"Alright, pal, how about 'No fan of The Inkantation that doesn't squidnap my grand-daughters is a foe of mine'? Sounds better.", he edited his idiom, much to the octopus's dismay.

-"Listen, fine, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't harm her, Marie saved her heroically and I even apologized to Callie and she-half forgave me, so just...drop the subject, alright? Stop pointing at me with that bamboozler, Craig!", he called out to him, hoping that him making amends will ease the atmosphere, but unfortunately for him, that seemed to be nothing more than a faint hope, as Cap'n Cuttlefish was unbelievably angry, it seemed, and it kinda scared Marie; even when they were young when they'd spend most of their time with their grandfather, he never got angry at her or Callie unless it was something extremely major, heck, even then it would only be a brief moment of anger, unlike now.

-"Oh, so that's how we're playing, huh, DJ? I can play like that too! Don't think you can fool me with your little speeches, I haven't completely lost it yet!", he shouted back at him, pushing his bamboozler further against his rival's head, and unlike what Marie would've expected, Octavio managed to remain relatively calm, and relatively silent, too. It was then that Callie apparently decided to intervene, another time Callie's ice-breaking skills save the day, no wonder Marie felt something was off whenever she'd talk to someone in her show and just never be able to break the silence if they go quiet, she'd gotten so used to the cheerful pink squid doing it for her.

-"Hey gramps...he's not... _completely_ wrong, he did apologize to me, and I'm...dealing with it, it's not that big of a deal anymore...and we're kinda...uh...frenemies at this point?", she tried calming her grandfather down while a nervous smile grew on her face, obviously not daring to mention anything Octavio told her about what happened to her in Kamabo as that would've only led to a worse situation, and the aging squid looked at her with a skeptical tone before finally starting to push his bamboozler away from Octavio, making the latter sigh a sigh of relief, although Cuttlefish's questions now headed towards the pink squid-Idol.

-"Frenemies?", he asked, not believing what she said, "Frenemies with him, Callie? What if whatever he told you is a lie? You can't just trust the most untrustworthy octopus we know!", he warned the long-tentacled Inkling, he clearly cared about her safety, but what got her and Marie's attention, was how offended Octavio looked, almost as if it was a personal insult to him.

-"...untrustworthy? Untrustworthy? I'M UNTRUSTWORTHY?!", he screamed with as much force as the aging Cap'n screamed at him when he knew he squidnapped his grand-daughter, each scream getting angrier and angrier and the two cousins looked at each other again, they weren't exactly thrilled about the fight that seemed to be unfolding in front of them, " _YOU_ threw me into a lake off of a fishing chopper after I _helped you get on it_ , and _I'm_ untrustworthy? Oh, how about The Arowana Castle? Because that white flag was so obscure, you just couldn't help but shoot us!", he reminded the old Cap'n as Marie was about to ask just what exactly Octavio was talking about in the beginning, but decided that such a question could be delayed for later.

-"This right here is our problem, you can't seem to accept that it was a war, DJ! What was I supposed to do? Give you a pat on the back?", Cuttlefish defended himself, much to Octavio's dissatisfaction, who frowned and echoed back:

-"No, _this_ is our problem! Whenever you're told about The War, you just reply with "oh it was a war I did what I had to", I know that, thank you very much, but couldn't you have done something after The War at least? Or maybe before?", he started questioning his former-friend, who looked at him with a mixture of confusion and intrigue.

-"What did you want me to do? End The War?", the aging squid dryly joked, resting his bamboozler on the ground again, signaling the end of a possible conflict between the two cephalopods.

-"You know exactly what I'm trying to say! You were part of the army, why didn't you tell us about Th-th-the Deeeeeep!", his reply was cut short at the last word; Octavio started gasping for air, his eyes focused on nothing but the horizon, and his last word transformed into a shriek that he was not proud off, it looked like this elusive "Deep" was what Octavio tried to not remember during the night he spent talking with the two squid Idols a few nights back, as evidenced by how he remained silent for a few minutes, Cuttlefish staring at him with regret.

-"Do you think I endorsed what happened there in any shape or form?", he asked the purple cephalopod with a frown.

-"Actually, considering every other former-Inkling commander gets invited to 5-star hotels while you are stuck in the sewers, I'd say you didn't get along with many of your higher-ups' decisions, and for that I thank you, Craig.", Octavio thanked with an understanding tone, trying to return to his usual tone and end the screaming contest between the two of them, "But now, now you're the grandfather of the two biggest stars in the underground and one of the most important Idols that have ever surfaced in the surface!", he started explaining to the Cap'n while pointing at Callie and Marie, who remained entirely silent for most of their argument, "And not only that, you're now the friend of the two biggest Idols in Inkopolis! Couldn't you have asked any of them to go out one day and say: "Hey, Octarians exist and aren't all that bad, maybe we should let them back up."?", he interrogated, and the aging squid shook his head negatively.

-"Listen,", he sighed before starting his sentence, "I see where you're coming from, but I can't use my grand-daughters or my friends like that...you know I can't, besides, you know some Octolings already made it out, and they're living a good life here, the government won't harm them.", he explained himself, and Octavio returned the sigh with another one.

-"Yeah, sure, one million Octolings made it out, 15 million are still stuck down there. I'm not telling you all of them will go up, but we have a good few million Octolings that are simply splatting to see the sun, your government won't trust that amount getting out so easily, they'll probably think we're back for revenge or something, and they're not completely wrong, which is why The Squid Sisters saying that Octolings are welcome would be world-changing for them; they'll be able to see the surface as a new home, and maybe we can return to how things were one-hundred years ago!", he encouraged the older squid, who looked at him for while, remaining silent the entire time, "Oh forget it, this isn't working like this, you need to be able to take me seriously.", he complained before trying something, and suddenly, the octopus that was Octavio transformed into a blob of ink, and half a second later, every other squid in the outpost knew what he was planning on doing: he was trying to assume his Octoling form.

Marie was both excited and terrified at the idea, as she was looking forward to seeing Octavio's Octoling form simply because of her curiosity, one of the things she and Callie had the same passion for, yet from the height of the ink blob, she could guess that he was taller than them by almost half meter, making his ink blob tower over the already short Cap'n, there weren't many things she could make out, other than that his tentacles were shaped like hooks, before her grandfather pointed his bamboozler at him again.

-"I don't trust you enough to let you do that, I'm afraid.", he announced as Octavio froze mid-transformation, something Marie never saw before, and a second later, Octavio was back in his octopus form, with a look of dismay.

-"Fine. I guess that's where our attempt at finding a solution for the Octarians halts. Again.", the purple octopus complained rather loudly as the Cap'n lowered his Charger. None of them tried sparking any conversation again, and Marie took it as a sign that their fight was over, thankfully, although she would've been far happier if Callie represented her relief in a calmer way, as she whistled dramatically, catching the attention of her grandfather.

-"...Sorry about that, you two can...errr, do whatever you want now, I think I'll just...take my breath here and then...put Octavio inside his globe.", he suddenly remembered that this entire fight was in front of his grand-daughters, and Octavio gave them look which looked like it was trying to say that he's fine, and instead of arguing or asking about what happened, Marie found herself being taken to their makeshift kitchen by Callie, who held her arm and nodded swiftly to their grandfather.

-"Well. That could've gone better.", Marie unenthusiastically declared after making sure she was out of the two older cephalopods' ear-shot. She wasn't wrong, as even Callie, who usually countered Marie or lifted her spirits up whenever she was feeling down did seem quiet-er than usual for a moment, so Marie shut her beak, because if there was one thing she did truly hate seeing, was Callie felling down or upset, which is why she would usually be the one to apologize whenever the two of them would get mad at each other.

-"I was hoping things would go better, y'know, after Octavio's stories about The War and stuff I kinda thought these things would be in the past by now...", she admitted to the light-green squid Idol with a disappointed tone while she looked at the ground and took a seat on one of the chairs in their kitchen.

-"C'mon, Cal, cheer up a little, would ya'? It's no big deal, I'm sure they'll work it out eventually...", Marie tried lifting her best-friend's spirits, although the pink squid Idol didn't seem quite convinced.

-"They've had about 2 years now to work things out, maybe Octavio was right when he said that the gap between them was too big right now.", Callie said, her disappointment being quite apparent at this point.

-"Callie, don't burden yourself with these thoughts, okay? I really don't like it whenever you act like this, please.", her cousin tried consoling her before an idea sprung up in her mind, "Hey, didn't we talk about my cooking lessons? Or are those going to be delayed?", Marie asked Callie with a small mischievous tone, and just like that, her cousin was beaming again.

-"What?! Of course not, show me what you'll do, partner.", she denied the idea and put her hand on her cousin's shoulder while the white-tentacled squid headed towards a cabinet and opened it with uncertainty, not really knowing what she was going to drag out, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, softie, it really means a lot to me.", the long tentacled squid whispered to her cousin, who pulled out a box of seaweed before glaring back at Callie accusingly, "What?"

-"Don't throw rocks if you're wearing dumb-glasses, softie, you're still holding that 'Splatfest celebration shirt'", Marie remarked and Callie giggled innocently, vainly trying to hide the shirt behind her back.

-"Hey, don't tell me you don't like it!"

-"Not at all, but it's not exactly helping your argument here, Cal.", the white tentacled squid reminded her cousin, who shrugged her reminder off and started admiring the shirt as Marie decided what she was going to cook, "Hey, seaweed stew isn't all that difficult to cook, is it?", Marie inquired, cutting the energetic squid Idol's train of thought.

-"Don't think it can really be messed up, it's seaweed and stew. The main part is the spices and the constant stirring.", Callie responded with her usual 'chef accent' she'd use whenever the two would have a so-called cooking lesson.

Marie discovered that her cousin was absolutely right, as after getting a pot with water and putting the seaweed in it, all that was left to do was to let it boil and add the spices, which was al done under Callie's careful supervision, of course, chiming in with some tips every now and again, and after adding some additional vegetables for texture, Marie was feeling fairly pleased with her work, and all that was left was to do was wait and occasionally stir the stew. She hoped it would improve her grandfather's mood, although she didn't have much confidence in her cooking skills, but it seemed the two older cephalopods had somewhat calmed down, considering Marie couldn't hear the two of them screaming their heads off again, much to her happiness.

-"Gotta say, I think I'm getting pretty good at these things! Remember when the only thing I could make was my regular coffee?", the light-green squid Idol tried starting a conversation with her cousin. For as much as Marie sometimes ignored Callie's attempts at conversations back in their apartment, she couldn't deny that she loved them, if nothing else, it helped the two of them relax after a hard day of performing and photo-shooting.

-"Would I ever forget those days?! Whenever I'd come back home late you'd look miserable!", the pink squid flashed a grin back at her partner; she'd never let Marie forget that one time she unexpectedly came back late only to find her co-Idol with a dozen of empty coffee cups both as a result that she was "too lazy to order anything" and because of her inability to cook anything of note. As she figured out, coffee does not make a great substitute for dinner.

-"Yeaaah...I remember those times... you then offered me the cooking lessons right after you tasted some leftover coffee, your face scrunched up like you were eating a lemon!", Marie recalled as Callie closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

-"Bleh...don't remind me...I had to wash my tongue for a few minutes to get the bitterness out! How little sugar could you possibly use?", the black-tentacled Inkling asked with a disgusted tone as Marie smirked back at her.

-"I mean, it got me the cooking lessons, so that's a plus, besides, you use waaay too much sugar for your own good, Callie!", she called out her cousin, who disagreed with her.

-"What? Naaah, I barely use seven spoons of sugar in any of my shakes!", she claimed as Marie stared at her blankly; their debates on which amount of sugar is suitable, the below-bare-minimum of Marie and the mountains of sugar Callie would use in her drinks, bakeries, and basically anything that could accept sugar, would always end with the light-green squid staring in astonishment at her cousin after she'd claim such an amount of sugar is fine. Luckily for her, she did manage to keep her teeth relatively fine after she experienced the pain of a toothache in her childhood, which caused much whimpering and whining on behalf of the pink-squid Idol.

-"Suuuure, fine, whatever, I'm sure gramps would agree with you.", the white-tentacled reminded her cousin, who thought about the statement for a while before pouting. Indeed, while Callie easily _adored_ her aging grandfather, the one thing they disagreed on was how much sugar she consumes, much to her dismay, "...Speaking of which, I'm hoping he likes my stew, he actually asked for it once, y'know, and I'd- OHMYGOSH THE STEW!", she suddenly screamed out as she sprinted towards the pot on their cook-top, then breathing a sigh of relief as she stirred it again, thank goodness, it wasn't ruined, although her thankfulness soon turned into a frown as she noticed that her cousin was now a giggling mess, almost rolling from laughter at the sight.

-"Well...I think it's done by now.", the energetic squid finally mumbled as she tried taking her breath from the hysterical laughter she just went through.

-"Yep, seems like it's done, thanks for the help, chef.", her cousin agreed before getting lost in her thoughts for a moment, with Callie giving her a demanding look, as the long tentacled Inkling always prefered to be kept in the light, "So. How are we going to tell gramps and Octavio to sit together for 15-odd minutes to have dinner without yelling at each-other?", she asked her cousin, hoping that the other squid would have an idea on how to tackle such a subject, but her hopes were swiftly dashed as Callie raised a finger to answer before quickly pulling it down and scratching the back of her neck.

-"Well, there's always the old fashioned way!", the pink squid suggested after a minute of thinking, and before Marie could even object, her cousin had already started calling the two older cephalopods, "OI! Dinner's ready, everyone! Don't let your seaweed stew get cold!", she yelled out, and Marie suddenly had a very large urge to facepalm, luckily for her, however, it seemed that against all odds, Callie's strategy worked, as both Cap'n Cuttlefish and Octavio arrived soon after, both not saying a word, as you'd expect, but they did return the two squid Idols' smiles.

Not wanting to start a fight, everyone remained silent while Marie was pouring everyone their stew, with the only words muttered by Octavio and the aging Cap'n were "Thank ya'" as they were handed their stew bowls. As everyone took their seats and started having their lunch, Marie couldn't help but hope for anything exciting to happen, as while she did prefer to be calm most of the time, now was not most of the time. Yet much to her dismay, no one dared say anything, even Callie remained silent, only exchanging looks with her cousin every now and again, until the impossible happened, and Octavio broke the silence.

-"...You know what? The stew isn't half bad. I'm actually surprised, Marie.", he announced, and the light-green squid could practically taste the fact that he was anticipating the stew to be far worse, and her grandfather concurred, as he whimsically nodded, "Although I will say one thing, it could use some spiciness...", he added, and at that moment, that 'ink-pocket' appeared on his side again, and this time, the purple octopus pulled out a large wasabi, much like those he used to turn his disks in his Octo-bot thingies. "Can I get a grater, please?", he demanded with a polite tone, directing his speech to Marie, who was the closest squid to him, and she hesitantly obeyed and dug him out one, while the demand wasn't that bad, many of her memories associated with wasabis weren't happy ones, if they didn't remind her of her grandfather and Callie's squidnapping, then they reminded her of the time Callie challenged her to eat an entire grated wasabi in return for the black-tentacled Inkling to stop pestering her about how much sugar she uses in her coffee, and Marie, unknowing of the true potential of wasabis, merrily agreed. Oh how shocked she was.

-"Pfft, one-hundred years and you're still just as much of a wasabi addict as you were back in the day, aren't you, DJ?", much to Marie and Callie's surprise, it was their grandfather that spoke up this time as Octavio got his grater and started, well, grating.

-"Eh, it's an acquired taste, Craig, shame you never liked them.", was all the purple cephlopod replied with, putting the wasabi he grated in his stew.

The two squid cousins were so dumbfounded by how quick this little chat started then ended that Callie's bowl was half tilted and dangerously threatening to spill her stew while Marie's jaw simply dropped. It was then the silence looked like it was going to return again, but attempting to continue this small discussion, she looked at the larger octopus with a glare, egging him to continue and hoped Callie would follow suit with their grandfather. At first, Octavio did nothing more than slurp his stew loudly, avoiding all eye-contact with Marie, but a few minutes later, he looked at her with a begging expression; he probably wasn't all that excited about such an event, but even without saying a single word, it seemed Octavio was going to surrender to her glare. It was something Marie was good with, to look at people and intimidate them.

-"I can't believe how much Callie and Marie have grown, Craig.", the purple octopus whispered, hoping that the aging Cap'n wouldn't hear him, but apparently Callie had managed to make her grandfather pay attention to Octavio, and while Marie didn't quite approve of the choice of subjects, it was a start. "Ninteen years and a half have flown by so quickly...I remember when these two were tiny little squid rolls and you invited me to see them!", Octavio continued, laughing a little at the end, and Cuttlefish finally replied.

-"Yeppers...some days they were, you were totally in love with Callie back then, you even swore to protect her at all costs even before I asked you to let them out of our quarrels!", the former-second lieutenant recounted with a laugh while the two squid Idols listened, trying to piece together the dialogue.

-"Yeah...I totally freaked out when I knew that both Lilly _and_ Stephalo became parents in the span of a few years...in hindsight, that probably should've made me realize these two aren't sisters...", the Octarian leader frowned slightly while pointing at the two young squids sitting next to him, prompting Cuttlefish to chuckle, "Speaking of which, how are those two squiddos doing?", Octavio questioned with intrigue, but instead of her grandfather replying, it was Marie.

-"You knew dad? I mean, he's doing fine, as far I know from my last visit, but when did you meet him?"

-"Yeah, same thing with mum, she's doing really well, trying out a new career in painting these days, but again, how did you know them?", Callie answered right after Marie, giving Octavio a head tilt, and he laughed.

-"Knew them? I babysat those two!...Shame I'll never see them again, but it's nice that they're doing alright.", he exclaimed loudly, and their grandfather chuckled at the memory while Octavio returned to his stew.

-"Yeah, you were a real helping tentacle back when I had too much work to take care of them, although I guess they got pay-back on me in the end.", the old Cap'n told his former friend as he looked at his grand-daughters; it was no secret that the duo spent a massive amount of time being looked after by their grandfather due to how much work their parents had, so they were essentially raised by him. Their grandfather went silent again and they looked at him, hoping that he'd at least demonstrate that he _somewhat_ cares about trying to talk with Octavio, and under their constant look, he could only oblige, "So...uh...how's Sophie?", he finally blurted out awkwardly, and Octavio stared blankly at him, so the aging squid precised his questioned, "Y'know...Sophie Octave? Your niece? Took her under your wing after The War and such?"

-"I can remember, Craig.", Octavio interrupted before taking a deep breath and looking at the-once-fearsome Cap'n, "You know Sophie...she was always so outgoing and courageous, so she'd always explore the borders between the underground and the surface, but one time, she stumbled upon an Inkling squad, so she tried escaping and fell into Kamabo.", he explained and everyone in the outpost held their breath. "C.Q. is real harmless, right Craig?", the Octarian leader mocked briefly, and the two squid cousins didn't need much time to put the two and two together.

-"...That's...I'm so sorry, DJ.", the old Cap'n apologized with both sorrow and surprise before adding, "I...I remember she was so energetic back in the day...we both thought she had so much potential...", he recounted, apparently thinking this would ease the atmosphere a bit.

-"Yeah...Listen, I got over that mess sometime ago, Craig. Mostly." the purple octopus said, his voice getting shaky while letting out a sigh at the end, "Let's just shut this down, alright? ", he begged the aging squid, who happily complied, it seemed that neither of them were at ease with talking about such a thing, as you'd expect, and Marie was so caught up in what those two were saying that she hadn't noticed that she had finished her entire stew, much to her amazement, as she wasn't too big on seaweed stew, she only made it both to try and uplift her grandfather's spirits and because it had the least probability of turning into one of those weird burnt thingies she and Octavio sustained themselves with while Marie was re-gaining the basics of cooking when Callie was gone. "Whatever happened to us, Craig?", Octavio asked with a look at the aging squid, who lifted his eyes from his stew, "We used to be closer than even these two, but now? Whatever happened?", he repeated, pointing towards Callie and Marie with a tentacle, and Cuttlefish needed a second to respond.

-"I don't know...maybe we finally became old and grumpy like we always feared.", the Cap'n answered with a small laugh, which Octavio returned with a shrug of denial, making the Cap'n give him a 'Just-admit-it-already' glare, "Or maybe we just can't let go of our past...The War wasn't that small of a deal, y'know.", he returned to the more serious tone he had been using with Octavio before the dinner as the latter seemed to accept the last answer far more than the first.

-"Do you have any hope of us at least _trying_ to put our hostilities towards each other aside? I'm not speaking about becoming friends again...no matter how much I want to, just being able to look at one another without the desire to spit at each other's face?", the purple octopus questioned, and again, the former-Second Lieutenant needed a moment to reply.

-"However faint it may be, I do have some hope.", he answered with some uncertainty, and it seemed Octavio appreciated the gesture, as he got off the chair he had claimed his during dinner and extended a tentacle, which Cuttlefish took after a minute of tension.

-"For all it's worth, this is the first handshake we've had in nineteen years and a half.", the Octarian leader commented as the old squid drew his hand back, "Well, I ought to be heading to my globe now, I've finished my dinner, I don't think you want to talk anymore, and I don't think you need me babysitting your grand-daughters, so until next time, Craig.", he saluted as he started making his way quickly towards his globe, which he must've saw as the only thing he could call his in the outpost, and went inside.

-"Yeah, see ya' sometime, you wasabi addict!", the self-proclaimed rapper yelled at him as he started locking himself inside the globe, and all Octavio sufficed with was a small laugh before remaining silent. It was then Cuttlefish turned towards his grand-daughters, and Marie internally braced herself for an displeased old squid to ask them why exactly they made him talk with the single most hated octopus he ever knew, which she would've had no answer for other than that they were curious about their past and tried making them reconcile a bit, but instead, he gave them another one of his masterpieces:

-" _No matter how much I stay away from you sizzlers, you two will always be the one only Squid Sisters!_ ", he rapped, trying to impress his grand-daughters with his rapping skills, and while the two of them had silently agreed that, aside from the strange words he uses for the sole purpose of rhyming, it wasn't too bad, he wasn't exactly phenomenal at it either. But nonetheless, the two smiled, as his raps were fairly entertaining, "Just leave it to you two to make me and Octavio talk, eh?", he said as he got off his chair in his turn, putting his stew bowl on the nearest table he could find.

-"Don't say it wasn't a good talk, you two needed to sit down together for a while now.", Callie declared with a proud expression, with Marie giving a shy smile from next to her, still not certain if there grandfather was completely pleased with what just happened.

-"Oh, I'm not objecting, I just think things could've gone a little slower...", he replied, trying to stretch his back again.

-"I'll admit that much, although I still think you have a long way to go before we'll stop pestering you about the subject.", the white-tentacled squid claimed while her grandfather eyed her with a slightly opposing glare.

-"I appreciate the effort you two are putting into this, but I think I can handle it myself, this matter is far more difficult than it seems at first.", he replied before quickly adding, "And I have other things to do right now, but I promise you two that the moment I'm finished, I'll have a good discussion with Octavio.", he promised as he saw the disappointment in his grand-daughters' eyes.

-"What are you busy with, anyways? Mastering rapping?", the black-tentacled Inkling asked as she slumped; she always enjoyed staying with her grandfather for as long as possible, especially after so much time had passed since she last saw him.

-"Well, Agent 3 isn't gonna train himself now, is he?", the older squid answered nonchalantly as Callie seemed to suddenly remember that Agent 3 is still in his training phase. It was an easy fact to forget, considering his vast skills, "Not to mention, I'd hate to stay here for longer than necessary, considering you two seem to have gotten comfy with this place...", he commented with a sly smile, pointing his bamboozler to the various pieces of furniture scattered around the outpost.

-"Alright, alright, I get ya', but at least stay for another hour, would you? We haven't seen you in ages, and there are so many things we need to explain to you in detail!", Marie pressured her grandfather, who thought about her proposal for a while before finally complying, resting back on his chair as the light-green squid internally rejoiced, alongside her cousin.

-"Fiiine, you two win, just make it quick; Agent 3 probably won't like staying in The Valley without anything to do for two long.", he compromised as he rested his bamboozler next to the chair and remained silent, waiting for his grand-daughters to start their talk together.

Time went by without the three squids noticing; they had far too much fun together. Callie recounted their times together while Turf Waring, gloating about how she repeatedly won over Marie at the Moray Towers, nearly sparking another heated argument, while her cousin mostly listed what she did while she was alone. Saying it out loud made Marie realize how boring her life was for a few months even more, although her grandfather was very interested in her time in The Canyon with Agent 4, so she started telling her grandfather about the various thingies in The Canyon, all the way up to saving Callie from Octavio's clutches, earning a very proud look from her grandfather. Speaking of which, The Cap'n was the true star of their little talk, as his stories about Kamabo were gripping, even though he wasn't even the one performing the tests, his way of narration made things seem like they were intense down there. Not that it was much of a surprise after Octavio's stories, but the old Cap'n was a master at making a story thrilling, which is why they listened to him telling tales for hours when they were young and never got bored. It was only when their grandfather received a message from a very disgruntled Agent 3 who has been waiting for him for about an hour now that they realized it was time for their grandfather to leave, and as much as Callie tried making him stay with them for a while, the old Cap'n refused, saying that he has to join his recruit.

-"It's only The Valley, Agent 1, a 30 minute walk, you can always visit if you two want!", he reminded his grand-daughter as she gave him another tight hug, only letting go when he started gasping for air.

-"But that requires walking there, gramps!", Marie objected as she gave her grandfather a parting hug in her turn, earning a chuckle from him.

-"Just imagine I have Callie as a hostage and you'll be there in to time!", the old squid suggested as he pulled back, prompting Marie to snicker a little, "Stay safe you two, and send your grandfather a message every now and again, yeah?", he ordered them from under the vent leading to the outside, and they replied cheerfully:

-"Will do, gramps. Stay fresh!", they yelled back in almost complete union, with Marie being a bit late, and with that, the older squid jumped out of the vent, leaving his two grand-daughters behind, maintaining their glance if he suddenly comes back because he forgot something.

-"Well that was interesting.", Marie spoke up after a moment passed without their grandfather returning as Callie took off her small beanie she was wearing to cover her tentacles, which didn't quite suit the job when her tentacles nearly touched the ground when she them tied.

-"Just interesting?! C'mon Marie, that was _amazing_! I mean, Off The Hook are apparently our new Agent-pals, Eight seems like a really nice octopus, I just wish she talked some more, Pearl apparently screamed at a telephone that was planning on destroying all of Inkopolis until it broke-whew, saying it out loud makes me realize just how much information that was...and I _love it_!" Callie screamed at her Idol-partner with far too much energy for someone that had just spent an entire day getting introduced to new people, stopping said new people from fighting with an Octarian leader they thought was the worst thing in existence, then trying to make that Octarian leader reconcile with their grandfather, who also thought he was the worst thing in existence. Still, for Callie, it looked like none of that fazed her, indeed, her energy seemed like it never ends, sure it occasionally (read:usually) caused some disputes between the two young squids, but it was just another difference between them that Marie had gotten used to during her years with Callie.

-"And discovered that apparently Octavio babysat our parents. And swore to protect us at all costs-you know what? I gotta agree with ya', Cal, this was faaar to eventful of a day for me.", the light-green squid Idol agreed with her cousin, who flashed a massive smile at her confession before that same smile diminished in size after a thought crossed her mind.

-"...Speaking of which...what are we going to do with Octavio now?", she asked with a barely audible voice as she pointed towards the purple cephalopod inside his globe, who was doing writing something on his phone, but whatever it was, it seemed like he wasn't enjoying it. Marie immediately realized what her cousin was hinting at, and she bit her lip while trying to think of an appropriate response, and after a moment's notice, she concluded that reminding him of, or even trying to mention his niece in front of him would be an unwise idea.

-"I think we just keep our regular attitude with him, if he wants to tell us anything, he can tell us himself.", she replied casually, taking off her cap in the process and throwing in onto the nearest chair she could find, missing. "I'll get good at throwing things eventually.", she commented with some irritation as her cousin burst out laughing.

-"So, how about we change into our comfier clothes, because these are starting to get slightly limiting.", Callie proposed as she pointed at her clothes, and Marie instantly agreed, sure, she didn't mind her Agent clothes at all, but after an entire day of wearing them for no other reason than disguise, they started to get pretty restricting. They changed fairly quickly, Marie returning to her shorts and green shirt while Callie replaced her magenta one with the heart shirt. Much teasing ensued.

-"What? You know I don't like wearing the same stuff for more than a few days, Marie.", the long-tentacled squid Idol defended herself as a smug smile grew larger and larger on her cousin's face.

-"Suuure, I'll buy that, softie, but remind me, why did you buy this shirt again?", she teased as Callie tried justifying herself:

-"I just thought it looked fresh, I mean, you bought a new shirt that day too!", she called out the light-green Idol, who kept her smile.

-"And it just so happened that you picked this shirt right after our last Splatfest together?", she reminded her, and the pink squid Idol gave up on coming up with excuses and started whistling innocently as she sat on her couch, which was still facing the horizon because both squids were too lazy to push them back to their original spots, "Hey, I'm not saying I don't like it, just noting things that need to be noted.", Marie claimed as she joined her cousin on the couch next to her.

-"So, ready to work with the two biggest stars in Inkopolis, Marie?", the long-tentacled Inkling excitedly interrogated her cousin as she was sketching something in one of her drawing books that she brought with her.

-"Hmm, that's strange, I don't remember that we were cloned...", Marie joked as Callie laughed before putting an arm around her partner's neck, "But if you mean the second biggest stars, then yeah, the two certainly are a character, and I think I can work quite well with Pearlie...", Marie started drifting off with a sly smile, thinking about how much she and Pearl would fight if they ever had to work together.

-"Hey, be nice to your new Agent friends, alright? At least try to be nice for the first two hours!", Callie ordered her friend, who simply nodded in return, "Well, at least I know that one of us will be nice to Marina...I never knew she worked in the Octarian army! She can probably tell us all the weak points of the Mighty Octo-weapons in case we ever need to go up against them again!", she announced, delighted by the thought, and Marie suddenly thought about Callie's last sentence, no wonder Octavio wanted her to be on his side or at least neutral... if she wanted, she could probably force his army into a losing in the flick of a wrist, she made a decent amount of his weapons, after all, she has to know their not-so-great parts, "What do you think she'll do now, after the whole ordeal with Octavio?", the energetic squid pulled Marie out of her thoughts.

-"Well, I think she went from hating Octavio to hating him, just less, and she probably appreciated the whole gesture with Ida, so there's that.", the white-tentacled Inkling answered with some hesitance, as she wasn't 100% certain Marina was going to be easier on Octavio after his attempts at a truce, but the beginning seems bright, if nothing else.

-"I certainly hope things get better between them; Octavio did seem sincere about his apology and stuff...", Callie declared, not lifting her eyes from whatever she was sketching before suddenly looking at Marie, as if she just remembered of major importance, "Marie! I just remembered, what was the deal with that "Human" statue gramps fought?!", she yelled out in excitement; Callie did have a thing for trying to uncover the past of these mysterious beings, while they did seem largely primitive, the recent discovery of them writing books, painting and generally nearing Inkling-level civilizations did put that claim to the test, and for whatever reason, Callie seemed fascinated by them.

-"Dunno really, but it sunk, so who knows now?", Marie replied, looking into the horizon for a bit as her cousin recalled the fact and pouted for a moment. The two squid remained silent for a moment, Marie even eyed Octavio to see if there was anything she could snark or comment on, but after a moment, she got up from her couch, much to Callie's apparent surprise, "What? I just thought that it's about time we push these back to their place.", the light-green squid-Idol justified herself as she started pushing her couch while Callie mirrored soon after.

-"Yeah, I've been thinking about doing that for a while, never thought you'd be the one to motivate me, though.", she clarified before starting to speed over Marie, who regretted pushing her couch alone, as she wasn't quite as strong as Callie, which should've been obvious enough seeing as Callie manages to remain full of energy after an entire day of pushing Rolly around while Marie slumps on her couch, completely drained of energy after a single broadcast in Inkopolis News.

-"Will you ever show me what you're working on one day?", the short-tentacled Inkling asked her cousin, gasping for air as she finally managed to push her couch next to Callie's, who had returned to her drawing books the moment she finished returning her couch to its original spot.

-"Soon enough.", the long-tentacled Inkling replied back with a small mischievous smile as Marie frowned, her curiosity was starting to get the better of her when it came to the secret of what Callie was actually drawing for all this time, especially considering the latter wasn't known for keeping secrets unless she was planning to surprise someone. "Hey Marie, is it me, or did you forget to take care of your tentacles while I was gone?", she changed subjects suddenly, catching Marie by surprise as she was starting to sit on her couch, and the white-tentacled Inkling noticed a slightly teasing tone in her voice.

-"Excuse me?! There are many things I neglected while you were gone, Callie, but believe me when I say that my tentacles were not one of them!", the light-green squid Idol declared with an air of dignity, straightening her back and putting her hands in her knees as she sat in the couch, prompting Callie to snicker at her pose, "Besides, who are you to judge? Your tentacles must've gotten at least 10 centimeters longer while you were away.", she called out her cousin in her turn, poking her magenta tentacles with a fake evil glare.

-"Hey, it's not my fault, not like I tell them to grow or something, and you never cared about them much anyways, so why care so much all of a-", she started explaining before a realization hit her, "You jelly, Mar?", she teased, flashing a massive grin in the process as Marie denied unconvincingly.

-"What? Me? 'Course not, why would I ever be jealous of such a thing?", she interrogated, focusing her gaze on her cousin, who kept the grin on her face. It was true that, while never wishing any harm on her, of course, Marie was just a teensy bit jealous of her tentacles, from some unexplained reason, Marie's stopped growing at a below average length, unlike Callie's, who reached waaay more than above average length, she always covered the fact by tying them ever so close together and taking care of them, but she always had this small envy of Callie.

-"Aw, don't worry, Marie, we can always try a new tentacle-style on ya', I'm sure you can do for a day or two without that constant pony-tail of yours... Unless, of course, you don't want some quality-time for your tentacles, in which case-", the pink-squid Idol proposed, and before she could even finish, Marie had already shook her head in acceptance, goodness, when was the last time the two of them tried a new tentacles style?

-"Of course I'd like a tentacle-night with you! Just...make it sometime later, I'm waaay too tired right now...", the short-tentacled Inkling compromised, and she could've sworn she heard Callie emit a "softie", which she didn't appreciate much, but what she _did_ appreciate was a chance to spend time talking about tentacle styles like they used to before before the chaos of them falling apart.

-"You and me both, Marie, today was pretty eventful, though, what was with the whole being thrown into a lake from a chopper thing Octavio talked about?", Callie asked with a slightly puzzled tone, and Marie returned it with a shrug, probably because she knew that if they delved too deep into the subject they would end up interrogating Octavio about his war days. Again.

-"Time really robbed us today, huh?", the black-tentacled squid commented as she realized that the stars were starting to show up and the sky was losing the orange tints of the sunset, and Marie nodded as she got up to light some lamps around the outpost.

-"What's that one even supposed to represent?", the light-green squid Idol asked while she was lighting a lamp that looked as if someone transformed some scribbles on a paper into a lamp base.

-"No idea. But I like it.", the magenta squid replied nonchalantly as Marie rolled her eyes. Joining her cousin again to sit on their couches, they didn't talk much, Marie was still taking in the events of the day, and for a while, the only sound heard in the outpost was Callie drawing, there was a certain calmness in the scene, as Marie discovered while watching the sky as the night engulfed whatever rays of the sun were left.

-"Y'know, Marie, I don't think Octavio can ever make a fresh start.", the energetic squid told her cousin, not lifting her eye an inch from whatever she was drawing, and before Marie could demonstrate her immense surprise at her cousin's opinion, who seemed to be the person that believed Octavio's claims the most, she resumed her sentence, "Because we already made it!", she shouted, laughing a little as she noticed Marie's expression, which was both dumbfounded and disappointed because she didn't see this coming.

-"Eh, you never know, he could always remix it.", the light-green squid Idol replied while shrugging, maintaining a joking tone, although that seemingly went over her cousin's head, as she murmured a "You have a point", and with that, the calming silence returned.

They remained that way for a while, Octavio remained silent, or so it seemed anyways, and it was only when Callie started yearning for her bed did Marie realize how much time had truly passed, as she hadn't noticed because she tried seeing if anything new in the world of Inklings had happened with her phone, but it seemed the world was as fine as it could be, with no reports about a giant telephone commanding a statue to destroy Inkopolis. With Callie heading to her bed, Marie was left alone, as there was no way she was going to sleep at 9 PM, much to Callie's protests and claims that it was unhealthy to stay up so late, but she eventually gave up on convincing her cousin and wished her a good night, with Marie returning the wish, although much to her own surprise, there wasn't anything worthwhile to do in the outpost without Callie, and Octavio was deeply absorbed in his thought, it was more than obvious that, while he managed to not start a fight, the day was very stressful for him, to say the least; you'd think so, anyways, trying to convince a former soldier that was forced to experience the lowest point of your army that you're not all that bad isn't a simple task, and to try and convince someone that fought against you in The Great Turf War whom you've squindapped his grand-daughter of the same is a near-impossible one, although he did handle things quite well, thankfully, he did train in being diplomatic, after all. The short-tentacled squid did actually want to speak with him for a moment regarding his opinion the matter, but she decided that doing so at this moment isn't exactly what common sense would make you do.

Hoping into her bed wasn't all that difficult for Marie, as you'd expect, she was a natural at it, although she regretted the hop a few seconds later, when it awakened Callie.

-"...hmm? Oh, g'night...Marie...", she whispered, obviously half-asleep, and Marie pulled her covers while sighing; she wasn't pleased with waking up her cousin, but she returned her whisper with another one:

-"G'night, sleepy squid.", she mumbled from underneath her sheets, and then she drifted into her sleep, hoping that tomorrow she could squeeze some more information out of Octavio, as today's talk with their gramps was far too tense for Marie's liking, and it was obvious that the Octarian leader was purposefully avoiding bringing up any controversial subjects. Still, those thoughts flew away as Callie emitted a loud snore, and Marie realized that she too should be fully asleep given that she stayed in her bed for more than one minute, and a second later, the white-tentacled squid was a large, sleeping object under her sheets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long wait comes an even longer chapter! What do you mean that saying doesn't exist? Just search for it right next to "No fan of The Inkanation Is a foe of mine". Wait, that one's not real either? 'Course it is! Cap'n Cuttlefish assured me...Well, maybe he should've proved it to Octavio in The Great Turf War...
> 
> ...Buuuut that's a topic for another chapter. Anyways, good day, my dear readers! I greatly apologize for the delay between chapters, but I certainly hope this one is worth the wait, there some difficulties writing characters, Octavio is still me toying with his character and developing it, and we get some new Agent-guests that visit the New Squidbeak Splatoon, alongside Callie and Marie shenanigans, as always. Next chapter will probably try to flesh out Octavio's past with Cuttlefish some more, as I am pretty interested in that, with a main dish of Squid Sister adventures, which I hope you enjoy.
> 
> As per usual, please offer me feedback on what you enjoyed, how you think character relations are handled, and if there are any issues with the writing itself, do inform me so that I can improve! Your support and feedback truly means the world to me, and I hope you keep enjoying this fic! Oh, and before I forget, there will probably be another large delay between this chapter and the next one, so apologies in advance.
> 
> As always, until next time, staaaaay fresh!


	5. Running From Salmon

-"C'mon, Marie, stop being such a lazy squid! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and Octavio will be starving to death if I don't make breakfast, wake up, sleepyhead!".

A regular morning between The Squid Sisters would usually begin with Callie dragging Marie out of her bed, and after the first few days of her return had passed, Callie seemed bent on resuming their tradition, much to her cousin's dismay, who hugged her pillow with as much force as possible, resisting the black-tentacled squid's attempts at dragging her out of her bed.

-"I'm awake...fully awake in fact...just give me five more minutes...", the white-tentacled squid murmured with a sleepy voice, trying to remain in her bed for as long as possible, but her attempts were in vain, as she found herself being dragged to her feet against her will fairly quickly. Victorious at first, Callie then quickly realized that her cousin truly needed those five minutes, as she quite literally fell asleep while standing, forcing Callie to wake her up again while making sure the short-tentacled squid doesn't fall on the ground.

-"C'mon, I'm not giving up so easily! You'll have to try harder than that to deter me from waking you up, sleepyhead!", the long-tentacled squid insisted with a determined tone, ignoring the fact that Marie was basically sleep-walking at this point until she finally managed to drag her to their kitchen, where Marie finally started getting aware of her surroundings, mostly because their kitchen chairs weren't the most comfortable thing in their outpost, to say the least.

-"Heya, Cal...", the light-green squid Idol finally greeted as she lazily opened her eyes, still registering the world, but it seemed Callie had already started her day, as she was making eggs and toast, their, at this point, usual breakfast before returning Marie's greeting.

-"Good morning, lazy squid! I thought I told you you shouldn't sleep so late, Marie...", the pink squid recalled as she flipped an egg with surprising ease, but at this point, Marie had gotten used to it.

-"But I didn't sleep late, I just needed my beauty sleep...", her cousin replied, trying to defend herself with a half-lie; for Marie, 10 P.M. was really quite early, all things considered.

-"Sure you did, but I think you must've had enough sleep if you've slept so early, eh?", the magenta squid replied with an eye wink, and Marie returned it with an innocent whistle, not saying a word. Truthfully, she could wake up early if the situation necessitated, such as whenever the two of them had to film something early for Inkpolis News or when Octavio was causing mayhem, but for the most part, she let herself sleep for as long as her brain allowed it. Or in this case, for as long as Callie allowed it.

It was a cloudy morning, and the sun seemed to disappear behind the clouds that cluttered the sky, which pleased Marie's eyes greatly, it seemed Octavio was doing absolutely nothing inside his globe, looking at the clouds as if something interesting was about to happen. Nothing of interest happened, of course, but it seemed the octopus was determined to never stop looking at the clouds. It was only when Callie put Marie's plate and coffee cup in the latter's hands did she realize that she should probably start eating her breakfast.

-"Hey, didn't you say something about giving Octavio breakfast?", Marie asked as she gulped down her breakfast while eyeing Octavio's globe, she couldn't fully remember everything her cousin told her during the battle to wake her up, but she was certain she heard the words "Octavio" and "Breakfast".

-"Sure I did, just gimme a second to finish mine, I'm sure he can wait for a moment or two, don'tcha think, Marie?", the long-tentacled squid replied with enthusiasm as she took her chair next to Marie, who gave her a strange look as her reply didn't quite satisfy her, "I also maybe-kinda-definitely needed an encouragement to wake you up, and that's the best one I could come up with in five minutes...", she clarified as Marie took a sip of her coffee, emitting a muffled "Ahh" in the process.

-"You care about him an awful lot for someone that was squidnapped by him.", the light-green squid Idol commented, not lifting her eyes from her breakfast, and Callie scratched the back of her neck while searching for an appropriate answer.

-"Well, we already agreed he wasn't that bad, and I guess talking with him made me see his point more? I mean, yeah, I didn't completely forgive him yet, but you know me, I can't just reject someone's apology, Marie!", the black tentacled squid justified herself while swallowing the last bits of her breakfast.

-"Don't I know it.", her cousin replied with a small teasing smile; Callie could never truly tell anyone that she doesn't forgive them, it was something that helped the two greatly with resolving any dispute between them, as all Marie would have to do would be to apologize as sincerely as she could, and the rest Callie would do automatically, and if that didn't work, then Marie starts raising the alarms. The two finished their breakfast, with Callie volunteering to wash the dishes, and of course, Marie could _never_ say no to Callie volunteering to do things she wants to do, especially if those things require physical effort.

-"Well?", Callie grabbed her cousin's attention, taking a seat next to her.

-"Well what?", the other squid responded with a head tilt, not quite sure of what the energetic squid meant.

-"What do you wanna do today?", she explained with enthusiasm, lifting her arms to encourage her cousin, who still looked like she wasn't quite pleased with leaving her bed.

-"Oh...uh...", the white-tentacled squid stuttered for a moment, she wasn't really certain of what the pair could do today, Inkopolis News had them covered with tasks most of the time, so they didn't have much time to think of what they wanted to do together. Being asked about it, Marie started rapidly thinking about the various possibilities they could do; Turf War? Maybe, could certainly be a possibility, she was certain Callie would greatly object to remaining in the outpost for another day, and Marie wasn't exactly in the mood the go out to The Galleria or The Arowana Mall...in the middle of her thoughts, one name surfaced: Grizzco. Sure, Agent 4 told horror stories about that place, but she and Callie saw said horror stories while fighting the Octarians, how much worse could it be? Besides, Marie never liked leaving any corner unchecked, so it would be a wise decision to see what Grizzco is up to.

-"How abouuut we try seeing that Grizzco Agent 4's been telling me about? She talked about these "Salmonid" thingies she fought, and I think you'd be interested? Maybe?", the short-tentacled squid suggested with slight hesitance, unsure if Callie would be truly willing to try out Grizzco as opposed to sticking with a traditional Turf War or trying out her hand at Ranked, as the two haven't tried that in _ages_ , yet contrary to what Marie thought she would do, Callie seemed over the moon with the idea.

-"Now that's what I call an idea!", she shouted back with excitement, surprising Marie and prompting the latter to move her head back, startled, "Hah, I knew you still hadn't completely woken up, Marie,", she noted as Marie glared back at her, sure, she wasn't completely wrong, but Marie would've appreciated having this note be delivered in a calmer, less scream-y way, it did remind her, however, of how much her cousin payed attention to her surroundings, a trait which, while never showing often, was quite useful when the magenta squid chose to demonstrate it at the correct time, "Anyways, if we want to get to this Grizzco thing before it gets crowded, then we need to be there early, dont'cha think?", Callie resumed while holding a finger and resting a knuckled fist on her waist, and Marie could only nod, much to her dismay, while she wasn't exactly the squid that would show up early to an event, she did want to see this Grizzco without a dozen of young Inklings crowding the place.

-"Can't say no to that, I suppose.", Marie concurred with a nod as Callie seemed quite pleased with herself.

-"Then we would do better to get started on preparing ourselves!", the black-tentacled squid announced before she remembered something, "Aaaand we should probably remember to give Octavio his breakfast before we leave, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate being left hungry, so you get your disguise, I'll make sure Octavio isn't starving to death, alright?", she continued as Marie nodded with a slight eye-roll; it's not a first for Callie to forget about something of such calibre.

Unlike the day before, where Marie changed into her disguise almost instantly, she took her time lazying around the outpost before deciding to actually get her disguise ready, faintly hoping to see something of interest, but other than the fact that there were some corners of the outpost that had a severe case of "Dusty As All Heck", she couldn't come up with a good excuse for not wearing her disguise, which she did eventually. She hadn't changed her disguise in the slightest, actually, it was the same old Agent disguise she never changed. Sure, it did look quite beaten, but it the job, besides, no one in Inkopolis would ever believe that Marie, known for her outstanding fashion when The Squid Sisters were at their peak, would ever wear such old clothes. Or at least, she hoped her hardest that would be the case, as she was too lazy to get something different for the sole reason of remaining hidden.

Returning to her co-Idol, it seemed she was just on time to see Callie throwing Octavio his breakfast from a small vent on the underside of his globe, which he took with a small "Thanks" before the pink squid headed towards her cousin.

-"Lookin' good Marie! Though...you could use some fresher clothes, y'know? It's not like it would be difficult for you to find something that's both discreet and fresh, with a bonus of not being 4 years old.", she noted as Marie shrugged, and Callie looked like she was about to say something before deciding against it and going to find her disguise, so at this point it was just Marie in the outpost, with not much to do around the place.

-"...Where are you two going today? Turf Wars again?", Octavio spoke up all of a sudden, if it wasn't for the fact she had gotten used to him, she would've probably jumped, but instead she merely turned around to see the purple octopus, the bored expression still plastered on his face.

-"Kinda, we're gonna investigate a new business that popped up recently in The Square. They call themselves "Grizzco", apparently.", she answered nonchalantly; there was truly no point in arguing with Octavio about innocent demands at this point.

-"And that Girzzco is what, exactly?", he questioned again, not appreciating how vague her previous answer was, "I haven't been to the surface in one-hundred years, you can't expect me to know about small businesses that pop up.", he resumed, slightly irritated, Marie noticed. Perhaps he was more unappreciative of yesterday's chaos than Marie first thought.

-"Dunno really, I've only heard about it from Agent 4, but she talked about fighting these things...what was their name again? Oh right, Salmonids.", the light-green squid recalled, not paying much attention to what she said, but it seemed like she should've, because Octavio looked like he was about to yell at the top of his lungs for a second, the expression on his face shifting to one of surprise and disapproval before he finally managed to speak his mind:

-"I'm sorry **_what?_** ", he asked with an almost-shout, glaring at the white tentacled squid with an unbelieving gaze, sticking his face on his snowglobe's glass. In a regular situation, this would've been far more humorous than it was currently.

-"Uh...is something wrong? Do you have a personal grudge against them or something? 'Cause I can't really see what pushed your buttons right now.", the short-tentacled squid theorized with some confusion, of all the things to make Octavio angry, she did not expect Salmonids to be one of them.

-"Marie Cuttlefish you are _not_ going to go fight the Salmonids alone as long as I'm still kicking and that is final!", he instantly yelled back, but Marie wasn't quite keen on his order, sure, she'd occasionally pass up a mistake or two from Octavio, but she was nowhere near even thinking about taking orders from him.

-"DJ Octavio you seem waaay too angry for your own good. What's your issue with me checking out something in The Square? Besides, I'm not alone, I'm taking Callie with me.", the light-green Idol echoed back at him with a slight smirk, as she hadn't put her face-mask on yet, though failing to calm him down, as she found out immediately.

-"What's my issue?! Listen, I may have my issues with Craig, but I am not going to let you two kill yourselves, especially not by throwing yourselves to Salmonids!", he yelled back, lifting his tentacles and hitting the ceiling of his globe, which was actually quite small now that Marie payed attention.

-"You're talking as if we're two new Turf Warers, let me remind you: We managed to, at the very least, pose a remarqueable challenge against you when whenever we fought, I'm sure we can handle whatever the Salmonids throw at us.", Marie reassured him, still maintaining her small smirk, but Octavio wasn't convinced, or so it seemed by the look on his face, anyways, "Besides, if you're so worried, come out of your globe and come with us, then you can be sure that it'll be a piece of cake.", she jokingly added, although instead of laughing, Octavio took the idea seriously. It's what Marie thought he did anyways, because after a moment of him blankly staring into the horizon, internally debating something, he grabbed the bottom of his globe's case with his tentacles and started lifting it with as much strength as he possibly could. "Wait I didn't mean it literall-"

Before she could finish her phrase, she was already too late, somehow, in spite of all the locks put in place to keep him inside, he managed to open the globe and swing it wide open. It was now him and Marie in the outpost. Marie gulped and checked around for Chargy, as this situation was pretty unnerving for her. She tried hiding her terror for the most part and kept a fixated gaze on the octopus who seemed amazed about the fact that he managed to open the globe in the first place before he took a step outside the globe, and a moment later, Octavio transformed into a blob of ink that rose up from the ground and a second later, his Octoling form was standing right in front of her.

Good grief, he was ugly. That was the first thought that crossed Marie's brain as she stared at him. At first glance, he would seem younger than her grandfather, he certainly didn't suffer as much height loss as him,but on closer inspection, he was definitely as old. The wrinkles on his forehead would make you think so anyways, but those weren't his sole defining feature, his face seemed relatively intact, that dreaded [468] was quite apparent on his forehead now that he had assumed his Octoling form, although he tried to cover it with his hook-like tentacles, who lost their original bright colors and had a colour that resembled grey-ish purple. Another thing Marie noticed was that from his left, his tentacles were sliced off. Completely. As if you put a giant knife there and sliced, it didn't take her much time to figure out who that deformed Octoling in his phone's background was, and her suspicions were further confirmed when she took a look at his right ear, which was barely apparent at this point, as almost all of it was shredded.

He remained silent for a while and Marie continued her observation, the rest of his face seemed relatively alright, with the exception of a few scars here and there, which didn't seem too special, his eyes weren't quite as wide and sharp as her grandfather's, in fact, they seemed tired, and they were currently fixated on Marie. He had no beard or moustache, however, or if he did, then he must've shaved them. That was when she noticed his arms; he was a wearing a short sleeved short, and while his right arm was decent, his left arm was horrible; the X-shaped scar on his tentacles had terribly translated into a large, diamond shaped figure that caved in his arm and stretched along his entire arm, it maintained its sick-green colour she saw a few nights ago, but that was just the beginning, because the rest wasn't any better, his veins' colours matched those of his scar, the closer they were to his hand, the more prominent the colour was, not that being close to his hand is what helped the colour stand out, his entire left arm had lost all but the tiniest slivers of colour, giving it an almost white tint, and saying it was covered in scars would've been an understatement, because as far as Marie could see, only some small parts of his arm didn't have a stitch or a scar, but that wasn't all, because he was also a fashion _nightmare_.

Sure, you could argue that an Octarian shouldn't know much about Inkling fashion, but he should also have the decency to not wear black boots with _light-blue jeans!_ Other than that monstrosity, his shirt wasn't all that bad, at least from Marie's perspective, as it had a magenta and green colour scheme with the words "Squid Sisters" written on its front. It was one of the first merchandise the two had ever published, and as far as she knew, it was all but sold out.

-"Enjoying yourself? Maybe I can get you something to drink, too!", Octavio drew her out of her thoughts with an accusing glare as Marie sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, "I would've thought Craig told you stares are rude...Well, I mean, I get them all the time back home, but...just...not here, yeah?", he justified himself with a calmer tone, probably trying to ease the atmosphere as Marie gave him a nod to try and do the same.

-"Yeah, I kinda got that...but lemme ask you this: _How on earth did you even manage to break the globe's locks like that?!_ ", she shot back as she involuntarily yelled, her cries echoing in the outpost, with Callie somehow not responding. In the back of her mind, Marie was certain the energetic squid was watching from behind, hysterically laughing at her cousin's situation.

-"Uh...I actually don't really know eith-waitaminute,", he interrupted himself as he tried looking around the outpost, avoiding Marie's now-piercing gaze, and as he did so, he noticed something, "Yeah, this is ought to be it.", he pointed towards the front of his globe's lock, so Marie followed his pointer and saw...nothing.

-"...Of course...", the light-green squid suddenly realized what he meant, and she couldn't help but facepalm; during yesterday's chaos, she had completely forgotten to lock his globe from her end and sufficed with him locking himself in, essentially leaving Octavio free to break out whenever he wants.

-"Happens to the best of us.", the large octopus commented, although with a noticeably large smirk, she noted.

-"Sooo...what are you planning on doing now that you've graced us with your terrible fashion sense?", the short-tentacled squid inquired after a few moments of complete and utter silence, why was Callie taking so much time?!

-"Take your advice and make sure you two aren't killed by the Salmonids.", Octavio replied nonchalantly while he looked at his left hand, opening and closing it several times, as if he was making sure it was still functional.

-"Uh...that's nice of you and all...but why are so overprotective all of a sudden? Couldn't you let us go alone?", the light-green squid Idol interrogated with a slightly irritated tone; she was hoping this little adventure of theirs wouldn't be intruded on.

-"Because I already lost several good men and women to the Salmonids. I'm not letting you join them.", his answer was near instant, almost as if he had already anticipated her question. Marie remained silent and glared at him, hoping to change his mind and convince him to remain at the outpost, yet to no avail, as he completely missed her glare and started walking around the outpost, he was slightly limping, nothing too remarqueable, but it was evident enough to be noticed.

He kept walking with no goal in sight until he stopped in front of something and picked up his briefcase. Marie had actually completely forgotten about it, so much to the point that he found it in the same spot they left it when they gave up figuring the code.

-"Well, at least one of my things still has its password undiscovered, that's nice.", he claimed as he returned to the short-tentacled squid, who still remained silent, and claimed one of their kitchen chairs as his, "You don't mind, do you? Oh, who am I kidding, of course you wouldn't mind giving an old octopus a chair.", he smirked at the white-tentacled squid, who finally broke the silence to object:

-"Are you still young, kickin', able to squidnap The Great Zapfish and Callie or are you an old octopus who needs a chair? Make up your mind!", she snarked at him, and he laughed, seeing his mouth move like that for the first time instead of simply hearing the laughter was a sight, that much was certain.

-"How about both? I certainly haven't suffered as much from age issues like Craig has, but I'm no ball of energy, I'll let that title go to Callie.", he responded, tinkering with his briefcase's lock, "Don't get too hopeful, Marie, I have my secrets, and you're never getting the cod-", he started gloating as he opened it, hiding the contents from Marie's view, but as his overly proud smile was growing larger, Marie had already interrupted him:

-"It's 888, isn't it?"

-"...am I really that predictable...?", he mumbled with an unbelieving tone as Marie sprouted a proud smile of her own.

-"Eh, just randomize the code and you should be fine. I get you like Octarians and all, but having 8 be your only password ever is not what I'd call suitable for an Octarian leader.", the light-green squid noted casually as Octavio remained in this state of shock for a few moments.

-"Thanks. For yesterday, I mean;", he eventually blurted out after Marie had decided to take a seat next to him, as she wasn't going to keep standing for much longer with no good reason. She had no idea what was making Callie take so long, but whatever it was, it had better be important, because sitting alone with a free Octavio in his Octoling form wasn't turning out to be one of Marie's favorite pastimes, "I've been wanting to talk with Craig for a while now, but I just never mustered enough...I don't know, tolerance, I guess?", he mumbled, apparently not noticing whether or not the short-tentacled squid was even listening, but luckily for him, she most certainly was.

-"He's trying his best, y'know? With the whole "No fan of the Inkantation is a foe of mine" and such, you just can't expect much development from him in such a small amount of time.", she justified as she turned her head to face him, and he laughed again, although his laugh was a dry one.

-"Yeah, right...What a bunch of lies...", he murmured as he lifted his head to the sky, leaving Marie to stare at him, trying to understand his thought, "Your grandfather can go on and on about he's friends with everyone, but I gotta say, his aim during The War was very Octarian specific...", he started explaining as he kept gazing at the cloudy morning sky.

-"Well...that was a while ago now, no? Holding a grudge for such a long time can never be healthy for you.", the white-tentacled squid advised the octopus in front of her, who merely shrugged off her advice and continued his speech:

-"Listen, my issues with Craig stem from a personal level...Before The War, Craig was my friend. For the longest time, he was my best friend. For a longer time, he was my only friend...so having The War just...force him to make so many decisions that have formed my life quite literally is pretty...I don't know...It doesn't matter anymore...But I just can't let go of my past...Craig was always good at knowing these things...", he finally finished as he drew his gaze away from the sky and sighed, pulling something from his briefcase, and Marie immediately recognized the familiar silhouette of his longcoat.

-"I guess you have a point...still, your decisions are essentially the future of the Octarians, you can't let your grudges cloud your vision.", the usually-sleepy squid firmly ordered, and Octavio looked at her while raising a very thin eyebrow as he started wearing his longcoat.

-"If there's one thing I can give Craig, it's that's he's one hell of a grandfather; he raised you two to what you are today, that's as much as I need to know.", the tall Octoling complimented the squid in front of him, who proudly smiled in return.

-"That's one thing we can agree on.", the light-green squid Idol concurred; she admired her grandfather to no end, from his past to him raising them, she was always proud of the old squid, so being able to agree with Octavio on that point in particular saved both sides a lot of arguments, "But what we can't agree on is your fashion sense; when was the last time you went and bought some new clothes?", she switched topics about as fast as an Inkling can change into their squid form, and Octavio glared at her, unamused by the question.

-"Three years ago. You don't get much time to buy clothes when half of your time is spent stopping two races from entering a massive freakin' war, and the other half is spent being a prisoner for your horrible crimes.", he bluntly replied as Marie smiled sheepishly, "Besides, it's not the clothes that make me look the way I do.", he looked at the ground as a strange 'swallowing' sound echoed, and by the time he lifted his head again, the Kamabo tattoo marked on his head was gone.

-"And I guess you don't need fancy clothes when 75% of your time is spent being an inflated octopus.", the white-tentacled squid joked at him, and he lightly chuckled.

-"Eh, with an Octoling form like mine's, it's not difficult to see why I prefer my octopus form.", the purple octopus shrugged as he quickly glanced at his left arm before returning to look at Marie.

-"Still, you went to your Octoling form right after you got out of the globe, so you must've somewhat missed it.", she reminded him, still not forgiving herself for leaving Octavio's globe unlocked.

-"Well, my octopus form does have its limitations...not having fingers, for example, and I do need fingers to be able to use weapons against the Salmonids.", the war veteran explained hastily, attempting to gloss over the last sentence, but much to his misfortune, Marie was quite the attentive squid. You needed to be attentive to understand Callie whenever she went into her "speedy-speech" mode.

-"Yeah...about that...are you sure you _really_ can't stay here? I promise we'll be okay...I appreciate your concern and all, but I was kinda hoping for some alone-time with Callie after yesterday.", she begged him with a slightly frustrated tone, giving him one of her infamous glares in the process. Now, not many people could stand up to glare from Marie, the best explanation Callie came up with was because they contained the perfect mixture of anger and disappointment, striking fear or guilt into the hearts of many, as Callie could testify, and for a moment, Octavio looked like he was about to be convinced before he took a deep breath and responded, not daring to look the white-tentacled squid in the eye:

-"How about this: If you two seem good enough, I won't intrude on any of your future trips, alright? I'll be silent as a rock and I'll only speak when necessary, you won't even feel I'm with you...", he compromised with a weak voice as Marie forwned, she would've preferred _knowing_ he wasn't with them, but perhaps this could work...if Octavio does truly remain silent this time, unlike yesterday, "Just this time...besides, I only ever wear this coat when I've decided on something, don't make me back down now!", he continued with a small laugh, still not even attempting to look into Marie's eyes as he proudly got up and pointed at his coat. Sure, it _somewhat_ matched his jeans and thus made him look less like something out of Marie's worst fashion nightmares, but it wasn't exactly something phenomenal.

-"...fine...but just one unnecessary word from you and I'll make you zip it for good, alright?", she grunted at him, heavily sighing in the process, not that Octavio could care any less about her sighs, he was over the moon with the fact that he actually managed to convince Marie to take him with her and Callie on their so-called "Grizzco Investigation" that he carelessly nodded to her threat, she wasn't sure he took it seriously, but she was sure that he should, as Marie wasn't keen on making empty promises.

Another moment of silence overcame the two, as Marie had nothing to say to Octavio (which was actually in Octavio's favor, considering the fact that she was loathing the fact that he was coming with them), and Octavio seemed to be smart enough to realize that any further arguments could lead to a swift and quick refusal of his demands, so he contented with fiddling away with his fingers as the white-tentacled squid crossed her arms and kept waiting for Callie, the hunch that the enthusiastic squid was watching her bicker with Octavio not leaving her.

-"I'm baaack!", less than 5 minutes after the outpost went silent, the silence was overthrown by the jumpy, energetic voice that Marie had grown accustomed to throughout her entire life: Callie. The light-green squid slowly turned towards the source of the cry with a piercing glare, which was greeted with Callie's all-new disguise. It wasn't that different, to tell the truth, the sunglasses remained the same, the beanie also stayed, although she had switched her original white shirt with a purple knitted sweater. That was it. Her original shorts and shoes even remained, alongside her pink hoodie, and Marie's suspicious were confirmed: There was no way Callie needed so much time to change into her disguise, she was watching Marie deal with Octavio by herself.

-"Yeah, I doubt you are; you never left in the first place, did you?", the short-tentacled squid replied instantly, resting her head on her knuckled fist.

-"What?! Marie, you think I would've left you alone with Octavio this long for no good reason? C'mon, Marie, that's not the way I roll!", the pink squid defended herself with an almost offended tone, one that had no effect on Marie's mood.

-"I'm guessing that reason was that you wanted to see what would happen if Octavio assumed his Octoling form?", the light-green squid Idol interrogated, keeping her arm-cross, and as Marie had anticipated, Callie turned to her signature fake innocent whistle, prompting a fatigued sigh and facepalm from Marie, "What am I ever going to do with you...", she mumbled as Callie laughed cheerfully.

-"Why, check out what that "Grizzco" thing is, of course!", the black-tentacled squid answered with enthusiasm before pointing to Octavio, who, up until this point, was doing his best impression of a rock. It wasn't very effective. "And take Octavio with us, I guess, I mean,you were the one that agreed, but I don't mind.", she noted with a small teasing smile, which Marie returned, alongside an eye-roll.

-"Please, if you were around you'd have agreed in less than a minute, and if it bothers you, why didn't you show up to help me put him back in his globe?", the white-tentacled squid questioned as she put her hands on her waist, prompting her cousin to lift a finger, about to protest, but after a few moments of her opening and closing her mouth, trying to find something, she gave up and apparently decided that there was no point in denying the truth. Octavio maintained his rock impersonations, not wanting to bring any attention to him, it seemed.

-"Alright, alright, I admit, I actually maybe-kinda-definitely wanted to see Octavio's Octoling form, but hey, it got us a new member to help us see just what this Grizzco is, no? The more the merrier!", the long-tentacled squid justified with an overly optimistic tone, yet Marie wasn't quite convinced.

-"I dunno...I would've liked it to be the two of us...Eh, doesn't matter now, c'mon, Cal, we'll be late if we don't hurry up.", the calmer squid dropped the subject picking up her face-mask from a nearby table and putting it on, it wasn't worth starting a fight over Octavio, he was already out anyways.

-"Aw, softening up, are you, softie?", the energetic squid teased her cousin, flashing a massive grin in the process, prompting a groan from Marie; she knew better than anyone that Callie's occasional teasing was mostly to attempt and trigger a reaction from her cousin, if nothing else, that was why she did so in their apartment. Marie could easily ignore Callie's teasing if she truly wanted to, but once in a blue moon, she would play along Callie's games, fortunately for the long-tentacled squid, said blue moon was their ever-continuing argument of who's a bigger softie, which Marie was enjoying quite a fair bit, mostly because of how much time she spent alone in the outpost without Callie's shenanigans. 'Course, she'd never admit such things, that would only lead to even _more_ teasing from her cousin's part, but she could always admit the fact to herself.

-"Eh, about as soft as a squid can be, now let's go, it's really starting to get late.", Marie replied, trying to mask any possible evidence of annoyance as she started making her way to the vent that lead to the surface, her cousin quickly picking up pace and walking beside her.

-"Hey, don't be too sour about it, I'll never complain about it, Mar.", the pink squid added, the massive smile still radiating off of her face as the two of them started preparing to jump into the surface, and much to her dismay, she heard some frantic footsteps sneaking up behind them. Octavio had seemingly dropped his rock impressions and tried catching up with the young squids while also not dragging much attention to his presence, the latter of which was quite difficult to achieve, mostly due to the fact that his footsteps were very audible in the quiet outpost.

Ignoring the realization, the light-green squid Idol noticed that she missed her cousin's jump, and hastily super-jumped out of the vent to catch up with Callie. The sky was still cloudy, yet The Square was far brighter than any part of their small outpost, forcing Marie to cover her eyes with her empty hand, as the other was holding Chargy. She quickly made eye contact (well...as much eye contact as you can make with sunglasses) with her partner soon after, who had her arms crossed while waiting for Marie, alongside one of her signature grins.

-"Man, this place still makes an impression...it's just so much more packed when compared to The Plaza!", she shouted as she hopped around, vaguely going to the general direction of the metallic building with the large "Grizzo Industries" sign over it, and in the corner of her eye, Marie spotted Octavio slowly walking behind them, seemingly amazed by the The Square, his briefcase in his hand, and it looked as if her tried to cover his face with his coat, he also got his shutter shades back on, which he had discarded a few months after the entire chaos of Callie's squidnapping.

-"Agreed; it's always brimming with life, this place, although I do regret never checking out what this Grizzco thing is before...Well, not so much now that we get to do it together.", Marie concurred, struggling to keep up the pace with her cousin, gasping for air when the energetic squid finally stopped in front of the gates.

-"Woah...seems kinda sketchy from the outside...", Callie mumbled, her jaw dropping as she admired the place. At first glance, it would seem like nothing more than a run-down, abandoned old store, even with the metallic gates open, it wasn't quite what you'd call welcoming by any stretch of the imagination. There were several posters plastered on the gates and inside the building itself, all depicting a massive cross over a fish-like creature, and in a near alley, Marie noticed a small vending-counter, it had what seemed like a glass window, although it completely obstructed the view into the other side, there was a small gap between it and the bottom wall, big enough to just barely fit in a volley ball if you try hard enough.

Marie spent a while admiring the building's design for a while, internally debating whether or not it's worth it to even try entering this place; that old corner Spyke's been hanging in in the Inkopolis Plaza was far better than this place could ever hope to be. Her observation was interrupted as she heard something heavy drop behind her, she vaguely felt that she knew what the source was, and she was right: It was Octavio, who managed to silently sneak up on the two and dropped his briefcase on the ground as he waited for further action from the two young squids. She tried her best to ignore his presence, mostly because there was no need to bring it up, especially with Callie remaining completely oblivious to the fact. As she turned her head to face the old building again, she was met with a couple of Octolings wearing a peculiar uniform with a seemingly harrowed expression on their faces. They passed by the trio fairly quickly, some of them were chatting with each other, others remained completely silent as they all headed towards that window, pushing some papers underneath the existing gap and waited. Their attire was nothing special, it composed of a white shirt with a logo on its chest, which was covered by an orange fishing wader, complete with dark-green boots that just barely stopped under the Octolings' knees, they also wore some oversized gloves of the same colour as their boots, the uniform was completed by with a white and green cap with a grey Grizzco logo plastered on its front, although the cap wasn't completely normal, as it had two packets unprofreshionally glued to it, some Octolings had it blown up, with whatever was inside it gone.

A moment later, the same window that seemed to have no one on the other side dispensed some different coloured capsules, which the Octolings took with great joy, alongside some gear, which two Octolings grabbed hastily. Their prizes in their hands, they quickly abandoned the old building, seemingly relieved, a few of them stopped and stared at the two cousins, but parted after they had failed to distinguish them. Marie was actually worried for a moment, as she was afraid that her cousin's constant remarks about how her Agent uniform and face-mask weren't enough anymore had some merit to them, fortunately for her, it seemed that once again, her ever-lasting claim that her current disguise does its job will persist. The young squids watched the Octolings walk away, attempting to figure out where this investigation of theirs will lead them, but other than a few blots of ink, not much could be observed, at least from Marie's part, Octavio seemed to observe them in his own way, trying to hide his face by lifting his coat and pushing the shutter shades up his face even more.

-"I think you're really overthinking how much Inklings and Octolings are mad at you, think about that entire fresh start you were talking about.", the light-green squid casualty advised her rival as Octavio kept following the Octolings with his gaze.

-"Yeah...maybe...but you can never be too careful...", he absentmindedly replied with a low voice, almost as if he was whispering, "You know how The War ended, yeah? Well, right before The Battle Of The Hole most Generals signed a 'surrender contract', so to speak...but we Lieutenants and Sergeants were far too deep in denial about The War being lost, so most of us never even _thought_ about signing a peace contract with you Inklings, as such, I'm technically still at war with you...", the tall Octoling clarified as he noticed the young squids' confused look, one that quickly turned into one of distrust.

-"...So how're we supposed to be sure you're not gonna turn on us in there?", Callie asked after a small moment of silence, making Octavio shift his focus back to the duo, wondering if Marie would get mad at him if he speaks, but the latter approved his request to speak with a silent look.

-"Well, I'd gain no benefits whatsoever, so that's a start, besides, I have some decency left in me, I wouldn't fight _THE_ Squid Sisters in this weird Grizzco thing, those matches need to be elaborated, devious, and-"

-"You're already planning your next fight with us, aren't you?", Marie intervened with a slightly tired tone; she was hoping their conflicts with Octavio would halt for a lengthier period, as their battles together, while admittedly fun, were exhausting, and Marie was in no shape to repeat them anytime soon.

-"...Yes? I already know that the moment I settle a tentacle in the underground I'll be asked to get The Great Zapfish again, and I've had literal months to think about how to try and make our next fight interesting, I can't promise that it'll be perfect, unlike last time, but I can promise that I'll _try_ making sure nothing bad happens.", he answered with some hesitance, obviously attempting his best at not pushing anyone's buttons.

-"Well...at least we'll be ready for it...", the white-tentacled squid muttered as she started walking towards the Grizzco building's entrance; she wasn't going to ruin her day with Callie because of a few arguments with Octavio, although she did definitely hope their next fiasco together would involve less squidnapping...she'd have certainly been less than pleased if he squidnapped her this time.

-"Huh...what a weird decor choice.", Callie pulled her cousin out of her thoughts as they entered the Grizzco building, and she was correct, the interior was less than pleasing, even after she had been living in the outpost, which was quite humble, even with the furniture, Marie could practically sense how much this place was neglected. It was rather small, really, that, or it was really unorganized and cramped. In any case, no one could've denied the the decor, while not exactly eye-candy, was interesting; there were several TV screens hanging on a wall, none of them were actually functional, though. There was a strange pillar in the middle of the room, making the already small room smaller, and it had several large bait-like objects pinned on it, alongside one continually spinning film-wheel, these things are extinct, just how cheap is this Grizzco business?!

Disregarding the thought, Marie and Callie advanced under a net that was hanging from the ceiling, one that contained these strange yellow orbs, they looked as if they had something inside them, yet Marie couldn't make out any distinctive traits, Octavio, on the other hand, seemed fascinated by them, gasping loudly and stopping to stare at the net. As they passed it, they came to a dead end, or so it seemed, in any case; there was a single vent in the ground, one that resembled the entrance to their outpost, and directly in front of it was a wooden bear statue, it had a fish in its jaws, but other than that, it was mostly plain. The only thing left in the room was a wall, what were they supposed to do? Neither of the squid duo had any idea, as they both exchanged a thoroughly confused look, and Octavio wasn't going to know anything about a business that just opened up recently, the octopus probably hadn't even seen what the surface looked like a hundred years.

-"Hey there kids, y'look like you're somethin' big, somethin' fresh, I can feel it radiate from ya', how about you work with me for the future of Inkopolis?", the once-silent wooden bear statue started speaking, catching Marie off-guard and _absolutely_ terrifying both Callie and Octavio, the former shrieking and the latter jumping, hitting his head on the ceiling, which was quite low for him, "What's the matter? Never seen me before? Well, I'm Mister Grizz, the boss around these parts, and the person that'll get ya' yer paychecks if you do well.", the wooden statue kept speaking, apparently able to tell that the cephalopods in front of it were either terrified or plain confused, its voice was scratchy, and its tone changed every few seconds, it took them a while, but at last the trio figured out that there was a radio inside the statue.

-"Uh...Hi, Mr. Grizz...? We'd like to...uh...try working for a day?", Callie hesitantly started muttering to the bear statue in front of them, not quite certain if talking with it was the appropriate course of action, but it was better than remaining silent, if nothing else. The moment she said so, however, the statue burst into laughing and a monotone tone started playing in the building. It wasn't quite what you'd call a laugh; more like an evil cackle, truly.

-"Then yer' all welcome!", the so-called "Mr.Grizz" concluded after his cackle, his voice slightly distorting as the monotone tune continued playing. The first thing that came to Marie's mind was that it was supposed to imitate those happy jingles some businesses have playing, but to her, it was nothing but an absolutely unsettling piece of music, its constant repeats, alongside the high-pitched "vocals", which she couldn't make out, all led her to believe that if she and Callie threw something together in five minutes, then it would be far better than whatever this could be.

-"Now...I 'know this is the borin' part...but I gotta get you trained, some stupid laws about the safety of the workers or somethin'...But I dunno about you...you look like yer' all set, 'sides, the best training comes from hands-on experience, and the future of Inkopolis ain't waitin' for no training, is it?!", the wooden bear yelled, lightly shaking in the process. The two cousins looked at each other with a small look of concern before looking back at Mr.Grizz; sure, none of them were manual enthusiasts, but the complete neglect of safety in the statue's voice just didn't sit right with them. "Listen, there are some manuals sittin' here and there if ya' need them, but for now, how about handin' me your Turf War cards? It'll help me a lot when seein' what kind of job I can get you.", he ordered, somehow noticing the hesitance of the two. After a few seconds of thinking, Marie got her card out; her reasoning was very simple: They didn't come all this way to turn back, so the black-tentacled squid imitated her cousin and got her card out in her turn, holding it in front of the small wooden statue.

-"Good...good...seems like you two are no green-beans, that's exactly what we need at Grizzco, what about you, big guy?", by some unknown method, Mr.Grizz was able to look at the cards, which had risen up a few levels during their Turf War day and were at an equal 55. Although Callie was closer to hitting 56 due to her winnings in The Towers. However, that didn't interest Marie, at least, not in the current situation, as her and Callie's focus snapped to the octopus behind them. A few seconds passed, with a few hundred different ideas coming to Marie's mind about how they can overcome this situation, the most prominent one being to leave him behind, Octavio, however, seemed to have a different plan, as he pulled a small card from his jeans' pocket and stepped forward between the two squid Idols to show it to the wooden bear, hiding the name with his thumb.

-"HOLY-Level 99?! You don't mess around, do ya'? Well, that settles it, you're all approved! Take a manual and jump through the vent, there'll be a small boat waitin', it's time for you to join somethin' bigger than yerself!", the stature yelled as Octavio looked more than proud of himself, putting his card back in his pocket before heading to small box on his left and taking two manuals out of it. With nothing else to do, as Mr.Grizz stopped talking completely, the trio looked at the small vent on the ground. Somehow, it managed to look even sketchier than the industry itself.

-"Well, we didn't come this far for nothing! Last one down is a rotten squid!", Callie encouraged the group as she jumped with far too much enthusiasm into the vent, leaving her cousin and Octavio contemplating whether or not the jump was worth it.

-"Well, I'm no rotten squid, so...", Octavio pitched with a small mischievous smile, but before he could execute his plan, Marie was halfway through a jump, trying to catch up with Callie, and Octavio jumped right behind her, yelling many protests which she couldn't make out.

Coming out of the vent, it seemed as if the trio was teleported into a whole new dimension, there were no signs of the square anymore, as they were on a small beach that was surrounded by rocks, in front of them was a single boat. It was fairly plain, small, and unremarkable, with a white and green colour palette. A part of Marie had a sinking feeling, no pun intended, that it was falling apart. Having no where else to go, the three cephalopods silently walked forward and boarded their transport, which barely fit the three of them; it seemed as if the boat wasn't prepared for an adult Octoling.

-"Well kids, this is the way of greatness! Get ready to lead Inkopolis into a brighter future!", a radio voice came from someplace within the boat, it was Mr.Grizz's, coming from the closed cockpit although somewhat more distorted then the voice back in the main building itself.

-"Alrighty then! where are we headed?", Callie wondered out-loud with enthusiasm, obviously enthralled by this adventure of theirs as she took a seat on a bench on the boat, with Marie scooting next to her. Octavio had to sit on a second bench in front of them, laying his briefcase in front of him and opening the maunals he grabbed.

-"To the Salmoind Smokeyard, yer gonna love it out there, nothing but pure Salmonid action, but with you three, I sure you'll make it.", Mr.Grizz responded again, the boat starting to move over the water. Marie never liked the ocean, its water had the uncanny effect of being able to dissolve Inklings, unlike the docile treated water she loved back in the Mahi-Mahi Resort, and she didn't want to find out that she somehow forgot to renew her imprint in the respawn machine her grandfather had installed in the outpost by falling off the boat. "Oh, one last thing, we were s'pposed to be takin' four members with us, but I have a gut feelin' you'll all be fine, now, we'll disconnect until we reach the Smokeyard, get ready, and bring me those eggs!", with another cackle, the Grizzco Industries owner cut the recording before anyone could even respond or object.

The boat started moving with moderate speed, the only thing in the horizon being a few rocks and the occasional deserted island, if one could even call them islands, they were more like large rocks that had something resembling plant life growing on them. Marie was starting to wonder if this whole adventure with Girzzco was truly worth it when Callie started speaking. Being her usual self, this strange period of silence while listening to Mr. Grizz probably didn't suit her at all.

-"So, what do you think of the entire business so far, Mar? Seems pretty normal to me...though, he could use some better decor that Mr.Grizz", she interrogated, taking off her sunglasses since there wasn't a trace of Inkling ink in the vicinity, so her identity was in no shape or form even close to being revealed.

"I dunno, really, it seems sketchier than your notebooks, and that's saying a lot...", Marie replied with some hesitance, not wanting to be the pessimistic cephalopod, but truly, what could she do when she was boarded onto a boat that headed to what could quite possibly the middle of nowhere?

-"Hey, loosen up a litte, would'ya? It can't be worse the the whole squidnapping thing with Octavio, besides, we're together, octopus or not, nothing will stop us!", the black-tentacled squid encouraged her cousin, throwing an arm around the latter's neck, who could only answer with a small smile. Octavio lifted his head from the manuals he was devouring at the mention of his name before quickly moving it down once he realized the implications. For all it's worth, it was obvious that Octavio tried to remain as silent as possible.

-"Yeah, I guess you have a point, but I just don't like the situation either way.", the short-tentacled squid concurred with some hesitance in her voice; sure, the situation with Octavio was beyond dangerous, but while he was able to squidnap Callie, an international star that was being monitored 25/7, remaining undetected for the entire time and brainwashing said star to serve him, he wasn't _that_ dangerous, all things considered.

-"C'mon, Marie, stop worrying your head about it, alright? If push comes to shove, we'll abandon Octavio.", the pink squid comforted her cousin, tightening her grip around Marie's neck and invoking a glare from Octavio, who finished the first manual and was now halfway done with the second. He was pale, as if something was greatly worrying him, Marie noticed.

-"Sounds like a plan you'd come up with on the spot while Turf Waring.", Marie laughed lightly; the saying was something they came up with whenever a plan the two agree on seems like it would fail, like most of the plan Callie would make on the spot in Turf War or back when they fought the Octarians themselves. Miraculously, however, most of her plans actually _work_.

-"Is that an objection, Mar?"

-"Not at all, Cal.", Marie replied, trying to make her cousin release her neck; while she did enjoy the gesture, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing to be stuck in, truth be told, "Though, he might have a few objections, don't ya', big octopus?", she continued, directing her speech to Octavio, who was now done with the manuals and was resuming his not-so-effective rock impressions.

-"Yeah...just a few...", he started before a loud noise shook the boat the trio was riding, not half a second had passed before Marie instantly recognized the tune: It was the same tune Octavio played when Marie was trying to break Callie out of her hypnotization, a remix of both "Bomb Rush Blush" and "Tide Goes Out" that he made, the sound echoed loudly, and before she came to her senses, she had pointed Chargy at Octavio and shot a half-charged shot.

Luckily for him, it seemed that he had retained some of his war reflexes, as he managed to barely dodge the ink stream before blankly glaring at the white-tentacled squid from behind his shutter shades, it seemed that even Callie, while also not appreciating the tune, was shocked at her cousin's reaction. It wasn't intentional, it was just her fight or flight instinct; the tune was synonymous with brainwashing to Marie, the first thing that came to her mind was that he was attempting to squidnap the pair, and before her brain could rationalize the situation, her Charger instinct had already taken over.

As for Octavio, his blank stare started becoming one of disappointment while he slowly slid his right hand to one of his coat's pockets, all while Marie kept Chargy aimed at him, before pulling out his phone, which loudly ringing with the tune while the name "Tonga" appeared on its screen, alongside a picture of Octavio and Tonga together, which looked like a selfie.

-"Hello?", the Octarian leader answered the call, keeping an eye on the two squids in front of him, but instead of a response, the phone erupted into a barrage of speedy yelling, startling Octavio, who tried his best to respond to the situation, "I-wha-The Council? What do you- STOP YELLING! I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!", he started yelling into the phone before both sides went silent, and Marie heard a deep breath from the other side before it resumed, "Yeah, that's better, what's wron-I'm sorry what? They did what now? TONIGHT?! How am I supposed to-yes, Of course, let's ask my capturers to let me make a speech! What a brilliant idea!...Yeah...yeah...I get it, I'll figure out something, yeah, tonight at seven, right? Yeah...Keep up the good work down there, and try to remember that I'm a captive and having a phone conversation isn't what I'd consider secretive. It's fine, I get it, don't worry about it, send my best regards to Kermadec...Glory and victory to you too, pal, see ya'.", he ended the call and then stared at the duo in front of him, the expression on his face going from 'slight disappointment' to 'massive disappointment'.

-"I thought you trusted me more than that. I know I'm exactly the nicest person you know, but you _shot_ me. I don't remember if I imprinted myself on Craig's old respawn machine, but out of all the methods I could've checked if I did, that one is probably my least preferred one.", he coldly shot, although his blame was mostly directed to Marie, who finally started lowering Chargy, attempting to avoid eye contact with Octavio. "Guess I was too hopeful with the whole "frenemies" thing, wasn't I?", he asked, the cold tone not leaving his voice.

-"...I...It just...I didn't mean it, alright?", Marie apologized as sincerely as she could. She didn't know how to tackle this situation, sure, an apology would do the trick most of the time, but she knew that if someone shot her outside of a Turf War, she'd need something more than a simple "Sorry". "It happened so suddenly that I...I couldn't help myself, I thought you were gonna squidnap Callie again or something and I just...I did the first thing that came to mind, you understand me?", she continued justifying herself as Octavio buried his phone into his pockets again, crossing his arms.

-"Say it louder.", he ordered, a smirk growing on his face, prompting a sigh from the squid in front of him.

-"I'm sorry for shooting at you with Chargy. Is that what you want?", she rephrased her apology with a bit of annoyed tone, though, Octavio did seem satisfied, as he started returning to his regular mood.

-"Now repeat that apology everyday for five weeks.", he demanded, his tone being _mostly_ comical as the trio laughed for a brief second.

-"Why'd you even have that as your ring tone, anyways?", Callie started piping up again with her usual peppiness, "I mean, yeah, I get that Marie overreacted a bit, but she was just keeping us safe, and that tune just isn't...well, it's not my favorite tune, I'll say that.", she clarified, a tone of uncertainty in her voice.

-"Well...I'm just proud of it, alright?", the older Octoling blurted out quickly after a second of hesitation, "I mean, by the time I realized that I would probably need a few songs to get Callie back to her senses, I had less than 12 hours before our fight would begin, and I only had, what? 1 minute prepared by the time we fought? I just improvised during the fight and hoped for the best, and wouldn't you know it, it meshed spectacularly with your singing! I just use it as my "Urgent Calls" tune, you know? Because the fight with you was important and stuff?", he explained with a bit of an awkward smile, something between proudness and embarrassment.

-"Suuure...I could see why...", the pink squid replied with some agreement in her voice, hesitating a little bit; sure, the song itself was pretty fresh in her eyes, but considering she was being brainwashed the two times she heard it, she couldn't appreciate it as much, "But, uh, Tonga as an "Urgent Call"? I mean, I don't know much about him, but you two seemed like close pals?", she questioned, shrugging her shoulders as Marie started loosening from the entire Ordeal.

-"Well...he's kinda my eyes down there whenever something happens, I also may or may not have made him my replacement in case I was gone so technically he's the current "leader-person".", he hastily stated, and so Marie asked the next logical question:

-"So what was so urgent that made him call you now?"

-"It's The Council. They want an official live broadcast tonight and I don't know what to do.", he answered with an anxious tone, straightening his coat's collar, trying to seem nonchalant about the situation.

-"...That's bad, isn't it?", the light green squid Idol guessed.

-"Really bad. Don't worry about it, though, I'll manage something, let's just focus on the matter at-", he tried reassuring the two young squids in front of him, who seemed quite worried, before the boat stopped and the scratchy voice of Mr.Grizz appeared again:

-"Welocme to The Salmonid Somkeyard, yer' gonna have fun with this one. Now, get off this boat and bring me my eggs! I ain't paying you to admire the scenery!"

Ignoring Mr.Grizz's orders, Callie and Marie couldn't help but stare at this so called "Smokeyard". It looked like some sort of abandoned outpost, or perhaps a factory, as evidenced by the several lamps decorating it and the very industrial look of the structure itself. There was also a large towering machine that looked like it was some sort of radio tower, having objects that resembled what you'd assume are satellite dishes attached to it, there was also a large diamond-shaped metal cross on the top of it, with a few wires hanging on the sides. It seemed as if the place was abandoned, judging from how rusty everything seemed, and how bits of the large tower were held together with ropes and wooden boards.Upon closer inspection, the pair realized that the tower, bolted in place with several cylindrical support beams was actually a separate structure, held on a wooden foundation that was floating on the water, which made the simple structure seem more barren.

There were some warning signs here and there, appearing to be typical industrial warnings, covering some metal walls that had several square-shaped holes with what appeared to be machinery behind them. Weird, as the structure Mr.Grizz wanted them to jump on was two elevated stone walls that had ramps on both sides and had this little stream of ocean water separating them. Said two ramps were surrounded by sand, as if this was some sort of industrial, horrific beach.

-"Well? I said I wasn't paying ya' for nothin'! Get out there and get me those eggs!", the Girzzco Industries manager yelled out again, with some obvious irritation in his voice due to the trio on the boat ignoring his orders. Not wanting to end up in a fight with him, the two squids looked at each other for a brief moment of anticipation before super-jumping onto the Smokeyard, Octavio following them shortly after.

Laying a firm foot on the ground, Marie still didn't warm up to the place. Its overly calm and cold ambiance probably played a pretty large factor, in spite of this, she couldn't help but feel this calmness was false, though, she couldn't figure out why; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, although she did manage to get a better look at the Smokeyard, the surface was actually fairly sleek, with a metal floor, although there were some strange elevations that looked as if they were built for maintaining ground or something. Alongside that, there were two platforms with fans on them, and Marie immediately recognized the propeller platforms, which littered quite a fair bit of the Octarian strongholds they infiltrated. The two platforms looked like they acted as some sort of makeshift bridge between the two large structures, but other than that, it was fairly plain, even the shore had nothing of interest but sand.

-"So, I know you haven't exactly gotten trainin' regarding this stuff...but I already told ya': The best trainin' is on the field. If ya' need any weapons, you can get a few from the basket, just make sure you return the stuff, it ain't free!", the raspy voice of Mr.Grizz announced from somewhere within the structure, much to Marie's dismay, as she was hoping they'd escaped the bear's seemingly constant gaze. As he said those words, a mechanical sound echoed from behind them, and the two cousins turned to see what seemed to be some sort of basket rise up from the ground where they landed, it was some sort of cylindrical glass container, with apparently a fish net inside of it. It also had a small vent on its bottom, like the one on Octavio's globe, that opened to reveal the weapons Mr.Grizz was offering them: A splattershot, a bamboozler, and and inkbrush.

-"...Thaaanks...but we'll stick to our personal weapons...", Marie slowly turned down his offer; she wasn't exactly fond of splattershots or inkbrushes, and while the bamboozler was a Charger, she wasn't willing to try it out, as she was far more familiar with her trusty Hero Charger. Callie shared her partner's sentiment, as while Inkbrushes did allow for more speed and agility if you were good enough with them, they never had the sheer inking power of Rollers which Callie loved dearly.

-"Yeah...I'll be sticking to my personal stuff too, thanks for the generosity...", Octavio mimicked the two squids' actions, patting his briefcase with some sense of proudness.

-"Stickin' to your personal favorites, as all profreshionals should! I got a good feeling about you three, now BRING ME THOSE EGGS!", Mr.Girzz's voice shouted suddenly, startling the trio with his last sentence before cackling and cutting the transmission, leaving the three cephalopods alone.

-"Huh...strange place, wouldn't you agree, Mar?", Callie dragged her cousin's focus to her as she scanned the so-called Smokeyard with her eyes while Octavio got on his knees and started fiddling with his briefcase's lock.

-"Strange is a nice way to put it...this place is completely isolated...", the white-tentacled squid replied as she made sure her cap was fitted, her gaze shifting to some tall rocks in the distance.

-"You could certainly say that much...Though I don't see any of these Salmonids Octavio was worried about.", the black-tentacled squid noted, taking a few steps around the place before looking at Octavio, "Hey, what'cha trying to do?", she wondered as Octavio opened his briefcase and started pulling, as if there was some magnetic force on the other side preventing him from getting what he wants.

-"What do you think I'm doing?", he replied with some strain in his voice before he finally managed to get the mysterious object out: A hydra Splatling. The design had a few modifications, mostly Octarian stickers that the purple octopus applied himself, but other than that it looked like a normal hydra, if a bit enlarged to fit Octavio, who pulled an ink-tank afterwards and started equipping himself with appropriate Splatling gear and started putting some Autobombs in his coat's pockets. Alongside that, he also pulled out something a little more odd; a small weapon that resembled a black revolver with several tubes attached to its back. Octavio spent a good minute admiring the weapon before heading to his jeans and sliding the revolver in.

-"...How did you even fit this stuff in?!", Marie demanded in a sort of shock as Octavio laughed slyly.

-"Experience. And lots of time. Why don't you ask Callie? She stuffed a freaking bike into one of her suitcases, that's gotta be more impressive than this!", he pointed out, pointing to Callie, who looked proud of herself for a moment.

-"Nothing's too difficult if you try hard enough!", the pink squid claimed with her usual peppiness before a noise came from the water, something that resembled a laugh of sorts, which startled Marie.

-"The heck?"

-"...It's them...the Salmonids...they're here...", Octavio menaced with a worried voice, staring at one of the ramps connected to the shore before something jumped out: A small fish, probably unable to reach Marie's waist, with an orange mohawk and a frying pan in one hand jumped out. Wearing some sort of green-ish yellow fishing wader that covered its lower body, the fish looked almost insane, with its eyes bulging out and the maniac smile on his grey snout, which exposed several sharp and pointed teeth. It stared at them for a moment after climbing the ramp, leaving a trail of dark-green ink behind it, as if it was inspecting them. Unsure of what to do, the two cousins kept their weapons at bay, and in an instant, the two were quite appreciative of the fact that they had their weapons prepared, as the small fish yelled what could only be described as a high-pitched battle cry and lunged at them.

For something that was so small, it was resilient, that much was certain. Its confidence in itself certainly wasn't shaken by its size, as its attempts to hit them with its frying pan were relentless. Now, Marie wasn't the type of squid to shoot something without trying to talk, Callie, she couldn't bring herself to shoot Octo-troopers in The Caverns and The Valley without waiting until there was no other resort, but their attempts at any type of conversation were met with a strange languange they couldn't decipher. Heck, even if they could, the Salmonid was hurling what she felt was several different insults, probably in disapproval of their actions. With no other choice, Marie readied her Charger, waited for the Salmonid's attempts at hits with its frying pan to miss and...

She was pinned to the ground. How could this thing have so much energy in it? Before she could enact any of the training her grandfather taught her if she was pinned to the ground, the fish opened its jaws and was about to close them, if it wasn't for both Callie and Octavio's interference, mostly Callie crushing that thing under Rolly, leaving a pink ink blot on the ground.

-"...what was _that_?!", the now-shaken green squid demanded as she tried getting up, taking her cousin's hand, who looked just as surprised.

-"A Salmonid. They're not the most effective. but I'll be damned if they aren't the world's most determined hunters.", Octavio replied as he readied his Hydra in anticipation before pointing at the ground where the Salmonid was situated, "I think we better pick these up if we want that Mr.Grizz to get us out of here.", he pointed to a few spherical objects on the ground, resembling the golden ones Marie spotted in the Grizzco Industries building, but orange. They were slightly rubbery, but fragile, as Marie discovered while holding one and putting it in her pocket, as it was fairly small.

-"Salmonid eggs, or as I prefer to call them, power eggs. Weak on their own, they create a heap of energy together. We've been trying to get them using diplomatic means into the underground, but you can never be safe...one Salmonid group loses control of themselves and it's a massacre.", he continued, stuffing some of the so-called "Power Eggs" into his pockets, "Don't think Mr.Grizz would mind if I took one or two...hundred...I'll send them to the underground as soon as I can.", he slyly laughed, trying to ease the mood as Marie was still taking in what happened to her in.

-"Well that wasn't too bad, was it?", Callie tried reassuring her cousin, patting her shoulder and giving her a hopeful smile. Marie would've returned the smile if it wasn't for Octavio, who laughed hysterically. Resisting the desire to scold him, she listened to what he had to say, considering his seemingly vast knowledge of Salmonids.

-"...That might've been rude...sorry, it's just that Salmonids never travel alone, and if you think that's bad, then you haven't seen the start! You could've read the manual, but I guess you prefer a hands-on experience, don't you?", he imitated Mr.Grizz's words, even managing to make the radio distortions with significant success. "We have a few hordes to go through before they give up, the manual said we should put any "special" eggs in the basket, and if we satisfy Mr.Girzz, he'll pick us back up.", he resumed his explanation after being met with the inquiring look of the young squids in front of him, and as he finished, Marie heard what seemed to be a...war drum? And a cello? Joining the strange rhythm, she also heard something akin to the dubstep Octavio played, not much later, Salmonids, large and small, started appearing from the ocean surrounding, trying to get to the cephalopod trio standing on The Smokeyeard.

-"So, guess this is what you meant when you said Salmonids are dangerous.", Marie looked at Octavio with a small smile that was barely peeking through her face-mask, which he returned with a nod and and equally small smile.

-"Well,", Callie started speaking to her cousin, maintaining a hopeful tone, "We ain't winning with this attitude! Listen up you two, this is bad, this is dangerous, and in a regular situation, it would probably end badly.", she informed the pair, directing her speech to them as a whole, "But you know what? This _i_ _sn't_ a regular situation! We'll win this, we have some of the best Agents gramps has every trained, good weaponry and an unbreakable spirit!", she encouraged the group, lifting a knuckled fist into the air. Goodness, her voice was overflowing with confidence and energy, it was enough to infect an entire army. Against such energy, Marie could only lift her hand and smile through her face-mask, Octavio repeating the gesture.

-"And a War veteran on your side.", Octavio diverted the attention to himself as the two cousins inspected their weapons and specials with the Salmonid force closing in, "I promised I won't let you get killed, and here I am fulfilling that promise. 'Bout time you see how we did this in The War.", his voice started getting this strange tone of excitement as his Hydra got ready, the fish horde was closing in, and within moments, they were going to make contact.

Callie's boisterous laughter as she slammed her Roller on the ground and starting heading towards the swarm was the first thing that set the mood, Marie covering her with Chargy. The swarm had all kinds of Salmonids, some about the same size as the one that nearly splatted Marie, others smaller, no larger than a baseball, they slid under the horde and tried getting to the white-tentacled squid. Luckily, a single well-charged shot from her would dispatch them quickly, but they were slightly overwhelming her, forcing her to back up into one of the elevations on the platform and throwing a few Splat Bombs to divert them. Free from the threat of the small Salmonids, she snapped her head towards her cousin, and lo-and-behold, Octavio was covering her with his Hydra. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, a massive smile drawn on his face, he let out a howl as he unleashed a fully charged shot on a Salmonid group approaching the magenta squid, gaining the attention of many, larger and taller Salmonids.

-"Hey Octavio!", Callie yelled as she hurled some ink onto one of the larger Salmonids, which were actually about as large as an Inkling, getting a direct shot, as the bigger Salmonids seemed to lack the agility of the smaller ones, "Can't you talk to these guys? Tell 'em you'll get them free chocolate or something if they stop!", she demanded as she rolled on a few of the ankle-biting Salmonids, trying to back up, as they were quickly surrounding her, and more than one managed to give her a good smack with their frying pans.

-"Will do if I can; these guys _live_ on their fights! Besides, almost none of them know the language, for crying out loud, and my Salmonid is about as good as your Octarian, as in, I can't yell it while I'm stopping these suckers form having an Octarian dinner tonight!", he replied as he launched some Autobombs into the horde, provoking many Salmonids to burst into a blob of dark-green ink.

For all their battle cries, the Salmonids seemed to actually find this _fun_. At least, it's what Marie noticed from their constant enthusiastic laughter, perhaps there was some more to it, but she couldn't think clearly about it. Not when she was about to be surrounded by a squad of Salmonids, who were beating her ankles with their frying pans, a few of them trying to bite, and one managing to do it. Marie wasn't the type of person to scream orders or demands, especially not when fighting a group of hungry fish that were, for all she knew, treating her as their dinner, so she fully charged Chargy for a moment, aimed, and in the line of ink resulting from her shot, she boarded the propeller platform headed to the other ramp and escaped the swarm.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to not inform Octavio and Callie, though. Reaching the other side, she started noticing that the duo was holding their own pretty well, in fact, they were almost done with the salmonids on their side, as the rest of the fish started to head back to the ocean, leaving Marie on her side with a couple of the larger Salmonids. While still not used to the chaos she was facing, she did have to admit that she wasn't _entirely_ terrified by their appearance that much, especially considering that the massive yellow waders they wore made them look less ferocious and more goofy-looking. She charged a few shots and dispatched a couple of them with ease, but much to her dismay, she couldn't get rid of all of the in time, as they were pretty durable, so uncharged shots just didn't do the trick. Before she could improve her position, she realized that the Salmonids had been trying to corner her on a ledge. As if that would work! She took a quick look behind her and saw that there was metal pathway before the small ocean stream in between the two ramps of The Smokeyard, and an idea flashed in her mind before she smirked to the grey-ish green fish in front of her.

-"Hasta-la vista, suckers!", she yelled out before throwing a barrage of Splat-Bombs at the Salmonids and jumping down to the ground underneath her. As she landed, she heard the delightful sound of her bombs going off, and the cries of the Salmonids as they were blown, still having that tone of amusement in their cries, for whatever reason. Still, as she landed, she gave a small wave to Callie, who was standing on the top of the other platform, seemingly finished with her horde. Before any of the two could even say a word, however, there was a distinct horn sound, almost like a foghorn. Marie tilted her head and noticed that from where it came, there was a disturbance in the ocean's water, and from the shore, she saw what could probably be described as a living nightmare.

Octavio's panicked cries got mixed with Callie's, as the thing was directly headed for Marie, it was moving relatively fast, and it wasn't long before Marie realized it was invincible to ink. It was something that resembled an eel, although far more enormous, and far more metallic. Its head was probably three times larger than Marie, and its dull-red eyes didn't help Marie with the situation. It had mouth full of sharpened metal pieces which served as its teeth, and it's "spine" was replaced with what appeared to be machines resembling the Flooders that the Octarians used, they were certainly as effective, and when she realized her ink was useless, she turned and did the only thing she could: Run.

She made a path with her ink and got out of the dark alley, trying to gain a foothold on one of the elevations on her ramp, but the steel-made eel was right behind her, she tried to see if Splat Bombs worked against it, but they didn't do as much as make the thing flinch. It lunged at her and she ducked, rolling away and assuming her squid form to maintain as much distance as she could. Avoiding another one of its lunges, Marie got to one of the elevations, where she got a few other shots before one of the small Salmonids jumped on her back. The bite itself wasn't that painful, and she threw the frighteningly big-eyed fish back into the water, but the time she took getting rid of it was just enough for the steel eel to knock her over, splashing some ink over her. Marie rolled over to avoid the ink splatting her. It stung, but she wasn't splatted, thank goodness for her gramps' training. Marie was never an energetic squid, but she could demonstrate some amazing energy if the situation necessitated, and boy, it did.

-"THE TAIL! FOCUS IN THE TAIL!", she finally started registering Octavio's yells as he shot with his Hydra at something in the back, making the eel flinch. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to get rid of this nightmare, she swiftly turned into a light-green squid and maneuvered around the eel, barely dodging some of its ink-showers before she came face to face with a rather large Salmonid wearing a face-mask like hers. It had large, bright-red dorsal fins penetrating its head with darker tips, and some type of control mechanism in its han-well, fin, and it was covered in Octavio's ink, apparently managing to keep a distance between itself and the octopus. It looked at her and she immediately knew it was smirking at her from behind the face-mask. It tried closing in on her, effectively cutting off the small help Octavio was bringing her. Not that it made much of a difference for the Salmonid, who was splatted with a fully charged shot from Chargy. With its leader splatted, the machine came to a halt; the ink-showers stopped, and less than a moment later, it fell apart, leaving Marie victorious with three glowing Salmonid eggs, although dripping with dark-green ink and unable to fully comprehend what she just went through.

-"MARIE!", she heard her cousin scream from behind her before being grabbed for one of Callie's bear-hugs, which she actually returned; she needed something comforting after such nerve-wrack, "You scared me to death! I though you...you...", she started muttering as she pulled back, having the faintest hint in her eyes that she was on the verge of tears.

-"Well, I survived, softie, don't worry about me.", the white-tentacled squid replied with some mischief as she tried lifting the mood of the now-shaken pink squid, "Nice work with your side.", she then complimented as Octavio jumped out of the orange ink. She only ever noticed the ink colour after she saw how the purple hues of Octavio's oversized octopus form clashed with the bright orange ink of the team.

-"Thanks! Octavio's Hydra skills were actually super fresh, so that helped a ton, still, what was _THAT?!_ ", she responded, regaining some of her usual enthusiasm in the process before pointing at the remains of the steel eel that attacked Marie, who were now being inspected by Octavio.

-"A Steel eel. I gotta give it to the little buggers, they're actually great engineers...Even if we did help them increase their production capabilities and tweaked some of the designs a little bit, the ideas were all them." the purple Octopus answered the black-tentacled squid, making the duo look at him in shock as he picked up one of the eggs and started heading to the propeller platform before stopping to look at the two Inklings.

-"You helped them create these things?!", Marie cried out as she got an egg herself, alongside her cap, which had fallen during her tussle with the so-called "Steel eel". Sure, she knew Octavio had dubious relationships with the Salmonids, but to help create these monstrosities?!

-"Yeah?", he replied with a muffled laugh, "What did you expect we trade with them? Energy? Resources? We had tons of unusable workshops because of the power issues, for helping them engineer some more of their weapons, they'd give us some of these babies in turn...Remember what I said about power and Power Eggs? These Golden Eggs can power an entire city!...For a few hours, we needed hundreds of them to last a few days, as such, here we are, allies with the Salmonids.", he explained with some irritation in his voice, as if he was explaining the obvious while the two cousins followed him, Golden Eggs in their hands as they headed back to the container, which actually had three Golden Eggs already.

-"I see...", Callie slowly replied as she dumped her egg in the container before turning to Marie, "Gotta say, Mar, you really got the short end of the stick, we got attacked by this small scrappy guy in a motorized vehicle, though he did manage to give me a good bump...", she started speaking with Marie, pointing to a rather large bruised part of her right-tentacle, "When we gave him enough trouble, his little machine broke down, and what do you know, he had some Golden Eggs!", she finished proudly, as she pointed at the container, which looked like it had seen better days, judging from how many different-coloured splats of ink were on it, hinting at the battle it has seen.

-"Yeah...wish I was on your side instead...Still, I think we're done now, where's Mr.Grizz?", the short-tentacled squid started looking for their employer as Octavio started looking around, preparing his Hydra.

-"Well...Salmonids always travel in hordes that are bigger than this...I'd guess he's waiting for the horde to completely go away...", he commented as another foghorn went off, and in mere moments, the three cephalopods turned their heads to the noise's origin point, preparing for another battle.

The battle tune of The Salmonids started playing again as the grey fish jumped out of the water with their usual unnerving enthusiasm, hollering some of their cries and laughs in the process. Alongside them was a single, well-armored Salmonid in a small vehicle that looked like a makeshift snow-plow, but instead of snow getting pushed out of its pipes, it was the Salmonid dark-green ink. The vehicle was fairly small, with the bigger Salmonids towering over it, but it was far sturdier than anything you'd expect out of such a small machine. It maintained a relatively slow speed, preferring to completely cover the ink behind it as it started climbing the ramp leading to them.

-"That's the one we saw before!...Just how many of these things do they have?", Callie noted to her cousin, who was busy aiming at some Salmonids that were trying to corner them.

-"A couple of thousands would be my guess, and that's excluding the ones _they_ make!", Octavio chimed in, always the positive voice in this group, wasn't he?, "You two are gonna have to take it out on your lonesome, I got a horde of Cohocks to deal with.", he added before assuming his inflated octopus form, swimming in the ink to reach a vantage point before readying his Hydra and unleashing his shots on a group of the larger Salmonids.

-"No problemo, ready Mar?", Callie agreed to Octavio's demand nearly instantly, turning to the light-green squid, who nodded and followed her cousin as she crushed a few Salmonids with Rolly. With the Salmonids distracted, Marie managed to hitch a ride on one of the propeller platforms without too many Salmonids noticing her. After she had reached the other side, she started observing their armored fella, and immediately noticed his exposed rear. Not wasting a second, she charged a shot and fired at its back. It wasn't quite enough, but it was enough of a distraction that Callie was able to throw some Curling Bombs at him and immobilize the Salmonid, giving Marie enough time for another shot, this time splatting him, letting loose a few of the Golden Eggs. The black-tentacled squid waved her hand enthusiastically, slightly dripping with ink, and Marie returned the gesture to the energetic squid.

She headed back to collect the Golden Eggs, jumping from the ink and assuming her Inkling form, only to be surprised by Octavio jumping out at the same time, nearly making her drop the Golden Egg she just picked up.

-"You did well with that Scrapper.", he praised swiftly as he picked up an egg of his own, heading for the container up the ramp. He was drenched in dark-green ink, Marie noticed, "Had a Steel eel sneak up on me back there. Wasn't as smooth as I hoped it would be.", he casually mentioned as if he read her mind. "Less than smooth" was a pretty big understatement, he was absolutely covered in ink.

-"Thanks...", Marie replied with some hesitance, watching her back for any possible ambush attempts, but luckily for her, Callie was taking out most of the Salmonids. Well, the ones she could crush with Rolly, anyways.

-"Watch out, band of big guys coming through!", the long-tentacled Inkling yelled out as she retreated, her Golden Egg in hand. Octavio took that as a call for help, and the electronic beep of his Hydra getting charged was shortly followed by a barrage of ink-shots, dispersing the group that was following them. As the group deposited their eggs, the radio inside the container came back on, much to their surprise.

-"Come to papa, little egg...Now go get me some more! You want to get out, then I need my eggs! There's still a big part of the horde remainin', do yer job!", the familiar distorted voice of Mr.Grizz ordered before cutting communications again, not leaving a chance for anyone to even object.

-"He's certainly a character, that Mr.Grizz...", Octavio commented as the trio admired the five newly-acquired eggs they have just put in, prompting the two squids to nod, while Mr.Grizz did radiate unpleasantness, he did have an interesting character, if nothing else. Marie threw a few Splat Bombs with that nod in the crevice between the two ramps, splatting a few Salmonids that were trying to make their way upwards before noticing something.

-"Hey...if you did splat a Steel eel...shouldn't we have six new eggs?", she directed her question to the older Octoling in front of her, who was busy trying to splat some of the smaller Salmonids in front of him with some autobombs, which moved in their own adorable little way before exploding in the middle of a horde, splatting some unwary Salmonids.

-"Well...I'm gonna send the Octarians one egg or two if I'm making that speech tonight...you know, to encourage them to go with me, since we'll enter Salmonid territory in our expedition, and I don't know if the Salmonids will be appreciative of that.", he started explaining to Marie, the latter shooting another approaching Scrapper, stunning him and allowing her cousin to fling some ink at him from his back, splatting him and adding yet another few eggs to the team's record. "Heads up! Drizzler incoming!", he suddenly yelled as something flew out of the ocean, starting to come closer to the Marie and Octavio, ignoring Callie, which was now on her own on the other side. Marie internally made a note to tell Callie not to separate from them and started admiring this so-called "Drizzler".

-"Still, how are you going to broadcast your speech? In fact, why are you even forced to do it? Is it that important?", the light-green squid Idol fired her questions one after another, waiting for the metallic...umbrella? It certainly looked like it, although after a closer look, she realized there was a Salmonid under the umbrella.

-"I have my own equipment, if that's what's worrying you, but if you mean emotionally...I don't know...I'm basically telling Octarians to go sign up for expeditions that will have fights like these, maybe even worse, with some barely-functional respawn machines...I guess that's what you expect from an expedition aimed to "improve" our overpopulation issues.", he replied as the Drizzler's umbrella landed. It looked rather cute for a second, hiding under it's metallic armor, until Marie noticed the canon situated on top of it.

-"All in a day's work, huh?", Marie responded with some anxiety in her voice as the Salmonid fired a projectile towards Callie, luckily, it was an ink-cloud, and while some ink did splash over the pink squid, she was far too fast for it to even annoy her. As for the Salmonid, the recoil was a bit too violent for it, as it was trying to readjust itself back in the umbrella, which had flipped over. But with no luck; both Marie and Octavio didn't waste a second with him.

-"You could say that. I'm hoping this will be the easier part, otherwise I'll have a lot of problems...", the purple octopus sighed as he picked up a Golden Egg from the remains of The Drizzler. "They have an entire squad of these guys in every group. Together, they can make ink-storms, far more violent than you'd expect.", he commented after noticing Marie's surprised expression; that was far easier than she expected.

Heading back to the container in the familiar routine, she was reunited with Callie, and so, putting their eggs (well...almost all of them; Octavio kept another one for himself.) in, they returned once again to the horde, which had gotten far more violent, there were hundreds of them at his point, to the point where Marie was genuinely worried. They came from everywhere, and even with their specials, the trio was trapped in a corner against the egg container. Luckily for them, they were able to push them back, but Marie was desperately hoping for an end soon.

-"HAAAAALT!", there was a shout, it was a voice foreign to the group, as neither Marie nor Callie were able to speak with each other, and Octavio remained silent too, even if the yell did shock him. The cry was in Octarian, although with a heavy accent, and in a mere instant, the Salmonids surrounding the cephalopods were completely still. The crazed smile on their faces were still there, and the circle was opening up for someone to pass through: A grey Salmonid with a strangely elongated neck, with some metal medals on his wader's shoulders. It's gaze was far sharper than many Salmonids', and he had his fins behind him as he walked to the group.

-"Well look what we have 'ere!", he started, trying to pronounce the words correctly in Octarian, "You three were a battle, I'll say that, but I guess that's to be expected from a squad with you in it, eh, big guy?", his speech was mostly directed towards Octavio, a smug grin growing on his face, exposing the rows of sharp teeth he had.

-"...Corporal Trout?" Octavio slowly recognized the fish in front of him, his tone being something between surprised and humored at the same time, "Who'd have thunk? Still as stubborn as always?", he asked in his own turn, returning the smug smile.

-"That's _sergeant_ Trout to you, Octavio!...Although, I guess I can let this one slide, since we've known each other for a while, haven't we?", the Salmonid objected with extreme force before calming down a bit.

-"We sure did. So you finally got your promotion, didn't you?" Octavio assumed, trying to add a bit of an accent to his own Octarian, "What are you doing with this squad? Thought you sergeants had better things to do.", he mocked for a second, making this so-called "Trout" chuckle.

-"We all need some training, don't we, Octavio? Never thought I'd see the day you team up with some Inklings.", Trout answered with ease, pointing to the two squid Idols, who remained silent. Octavio was handling things well up until this moment, if he could continue like this, maybe this could be the end of their battle, if Trout was truly friends with Octavio.

-"Against you folks, everything's possible.", Octavio responded with some coldness in his voice, "So what brings you here? Standing in front of me to brag about your promotion? Or something else?"

-"Always straight to the point, Octavio...you should relax a bit, wouldn't kill you...well, you see, my warriors have been quite impressed with your work, and thanks to the respawn machines you Octarians made us, we can take as many losses as we like.", Trout started talking, walking in front of the trio and taking his sweet time, "So I thought, maybe if you could survive the next round and give us back some of our eggs, we'll let you go. We've had our fun, and the respawn machines you've created us only last for so long before overheating. Or failing.", the Salmonid proposed, handing an open fin. A moment later, Octavio groaned and threw one of the eggs he was keeping for himself into Trout's fins, which he handed to another Salmonid.

-"Just this one? Shame. Well, I guess then our troops should get as much training as they can, you know, as thanks for your _wonderful_ respawn machines...Or you could give us some more eggs. But I know you all too well, you're too stubborn for your own good.", Trout commented with some disdain in his voice, and that moment, a massive burst of ink came over Trout and the Salmonids surrounding him, there was a large "bang" as the orange ink covered him. Once the ink settled, Marie saw the black revolver Octavio pocketed in the beginning of their combat, , the pipes extending from it were now firmly planted in Octavio's left hand, which somehow lost even _more_ color, making his veins bulge with their green teints. Several of the Salmonids that were around Trout got splatted, big and small, but much to her surprise, Trout managed to dodge it. Completely covered in ink, but still.

-"Bet you didn't think I'd learn from my mistake last time!", Trout laughed, it wasn't really a laugh, more like a howl, "Still got those war reflexes, I see, better pray they come in useful this round!", the now-dripping fish taunted as several Salmonids got in their positions.

-"Believe me, I'm praying alright...Was hoping you guys still adopted the "If Leader is gone, retreat" strategy...", Octavio lamented with some stress in his voice, letting out a nervous chuckle as the fish in front of him cackled.

-"You're just too good, Octavio.", Trout said. And with that, he let out a screeching battle cry in Salmonid, but both Callie and Marie knew exactly what he yelled: Get them.

The two cousins exchanged a weak smile, Callie patting Marie's shoulder for a moment before the two prepared for the showdown. The massive circle closed in, giving way for Trout to back away, but what really made Marie worry, was that the water levels were rising, and the shoreline surrounding the Smokeyard was engulfed, alongside the small canyon between the two ramps. The regular battle music of the Salmonids, while nowhere near calm, was now replaced by a more panicked tune, something like sirens before picking up with the cello, the wardrums and the DJ. It was a chaotic tune, with nothing truly being coherent. If nothing else, the Salmonids knew exactly how to crush the morale of the opposing teams with their music.

Most of the Salmonids tried attacking Octavio, who managed to hold his ground for a while with some Autobombs before being forced to retreat further into the ramp. Marie threw a couple of Splat Bombs to distract a couple of them, Callie doing the same gesture with Curling Bombs. It was then Marie noticed a Stingray. One that wasn't hers. _This_ _is bad_. That was the only thing she could think off; the two had attracted a decent amount of Salmonids, who were taking orders from Trout. Somewhere in the crowd, he was yelling orders in Salmonid, trying to mask his hysterical laughter by hiding it with the rest of the Salmonid's. Shooting a couple of the smaller guys to get them off Callie's back, she tried finding their mysterious Stingray user, and wouldn't you know it, there was a Salmonid on the other side, it was fairly small, being barely larger than the regular ones, and it was sitting on a tower of pans, pots and scrap metal. If nothing else, she admired their creativity. She did not, however, admire its attempt at splatting Callie, causing the pink squid to squeak as the sting ray caught her bruised tentacle.

Marie immediately headed to the other side using the propeller platform, and upon reaching her destination, she pulled out her proper Stingray and showed that bugger not to mess with her cousin. Only she could do that. His pots started falling one by one, and eventually, the pot he was situated in was the last one remaining, falling on a burner which was connected to the Salmonid's Stingray, of course, the large amount of pots helped the heat disperse, but when the Salmonid directly fell onto it, he immediately scrammed into the ocean, leaving in his place three precious Golden Eggs. Not that Marie had much time to collect every one of them, she barely picked one up before a bombardment of missiles homed in on her. Thank the heavens for the shadows they casted before hitting Marie, without them, she'd have probably sustained far more damage than the bruise on her ankles right now.

Turning her head to try and spot her assailant, she had to look up instead,because her nemisis was a small Salmonid piloting a flying machine of sorts, with some coolers as its missile launchers. She was really starting to doubt the Salmonid's sense of seriousness in combat. Not that the missiles themselves were any less terrifying, Marie had to sprint to the other side of the ramp to avoid being splatted, and like all vehicles, it seemed invulnerable to ink. There wasn't much time to think, as the smaller Salmonid managed to put Marie between its larger brethren and the ocean and started aiming for her cousin and Octavio, managing to startle both of them. But first, she needed to get rid of the Salmonids surrounding her, so she threw a Splat Bomb into the group and watched it explode, forcing many of the warriors to back away, then it hit her.

Splat Bombs. That was it; the strength of a single Splat Bomb on its own wasn't all that spectacular, truth be told. But, if the missiles of the flying Salmonid hit it at close range, then perhaps, just perhaps, the detonation would be strong enough the thwart the Salmonid out of its flying throne. She charged another shot to deter some Salmonids from surrounding her before heading towards the flying fish, trying to distract it from shooting her teammates. That part didn't take long, its attention span seemed rather short, and she managed to dodge another barrage of missiles before the Salmonid fully turned to her. She took a deep breath, held the destined Splat Bomb in her hand, and threw it into the left cooler.

 _Bingo_. The light-green squid couldn't help but smile vigorously as the cooler exploded into several pieces, slightly throwing off the improvised inkjet-like vehicle's balance. Unfortunately, however, the smaller Salmonid grew aware of Marie's plan, as such, it turned its full firing power to some other cephalopod, turning its machine away from the white-tentacled squid to avoid any further losses. Marie held her breath for a moment, her gaze quickly shifting to Callie as the Salmonid's missiles went off, but breathed easy for a moment after seeing the the long-tentacled squid had no shadows looming over her, as she was merrily splatting Salmonids who were trying to corner her with her Splashdown. But then the realization hit her: If the missiles weren't targeting Callie, then that could only mean...

Her focus turned to the octopus, who looked like he could be faring better, as his current plan to deal with the Salmonids was to run around in rather large circles around the ramp, occasionally throwing an Autobomb, yet not daring to stop or fully charge his Hydra, lest the Salmonids catch up, so you could imagine how disastrous the situation was for him once he realized the missiles were coming after him. He managed to dodge most of them, with only one of the missiles actually splashing ink over him, but at the same time, his constant movement was halted, and that gave the Salmonids in tow just enough time to surround the Octoling and start beating him with their frying pans. Or biting, whatever worked. Marie managed to down the flying Salmonid after it apparently forgot about her, preferring to target Octavio instead, which gave the short-tentacled squid enough of an opportunity to throw another Splat Bomb into the remaining missile-cooler, ending the Salmonid's short-lived flight and making it violently crash, leaving behind the regular three Golden Eggs, but the light-green squid didn't quite focus on them, as she and Callie, who had started noticing the chaos, turned their attention to Octavio.

He was completely surrounded. Even using a Splashdown, the remaining Salmonids would take him down in the down-time after his Splashdown. In spite of wanting to help him, Marie and Callie were kept in place by the Salmonids, while they did manage to push forward, their rate of advancement was far too slow to help Octavio. The octopus, on the other hand, pulled the small revolver out again, and shot three ink-shots at The Salmonids. Marie actually noticed the pipes filled up with some orange ink, apparently directly drawing it from his arm instead of the ink-tank. The amount of ink that thing could fire out was disproportionate to its small size, and many Salmonids were splatted by Octavio, but it still wasn't enough. Behind him, an ocean, in front of him, The Salmonids. Far too many to dispose of quickly. Before Marie could think of an ideal solution, Octavio looked at the squids for a moment, finger-gunned them before opening his arms, almost as if he was waiting for a hug, and letting himself fall into the ocean.

The first emotion that the two young squids first felt was confusion, shortly followed by shock. Why would anyone even try to jump into the ocean?! Was it overconfidence? Did Octavio not want to Salmonids to have the last laugh? If he did, then he most certainly failed, as the Salmonids' cries of joy were only augmented before they turned to the squids behind them. Backed up against the container, the two of them were running out of ink, the troop that was surrounding Octavio was now surrounding them, and they had no space to recharge their ink.

-"Marie?", Callie managed to speak up as the two were entirely surrounded, "I don't think this is how Octavio would've liked going out.", her voice was shaken, but was still dominated by shock.

-"Neither do I.", in truth, Marie didn't know what to say, sure, Octavio wasn't exactly a good friend of theirs, but he didn't deserve to go out like that. None did. His attempt at the whole "Frenemies" was even starting to make her distrust him less. He just vanished in a a moment. Was that truly it?

-"I think this is the point in the movies where we should say our goodbyes, isn't it?", the magenta squid commented with a weak smile as she inched closer to her cousin, whose expression remained uncertain, "Well, I'll start: If we don't make it out of this alive, then I'm more than happy to have died by your side, Marie. You were the best friend I could ever love or hope for, and I will always remember you.", she spoke, her voice getting emotional.

-"If you _did_ truly watch the movies, you'd know this is the part where we get saved by some miracle and get embarrassed by what we said." Marie retorted with a smirk covered by her face-mask.

-"Marieee!", Callie's cry what something between blame and humor; if this was truly it, then Marie wouldn't get splatted without having a good laugh with Callie. Though as the horde progressed and their ink ran lower, the calmer squid was really thinking about that "goodbye message", even if she did lament the fact that the horde was on the verge of dying out...if only there was just some more ink to be had...

Suddenly, something shot out of the ocean. Expecting another Drizzler and frowning, Marie then noticed the object was purple, and she involuntarily smiled. A few Autobombs dropped out of the sky, startling several Salmonids that were swiftly splatted. The purple object was then surrounded by ink, and Marie shielded her eyes to avoid the splatter of the Splashdown, which landed violently, almost being twice as large as a normal Splashdown. Standing in the middle of the created ink circle was Octavio. Something akin to steam was radiating off of him, his skin was bright-red, and he was gasping for air, but in spite of all of this he was alive. Out of the ocean's polluted water, no less. Callie's jaw dropped as Marie turned towards her, her smile only covered by her face mask. Neither of them could say anything, however, because a familiar voice sliced through the crowd, which was decimated, as the cornering maneuver was interrupted by Octavio's sudden appearance:

-"Octavio! You glorious, magnificent bastard! I knew you had something up your sleeve!", Trout was basically the only Salmonid to be standing face-to-face with Octavio at this point, his crooked smile had grown larger and larger, almost as if he had known this would happen from the start.

-"I followed your advice and tried to adapt to the water. It wasn't unsuccessful, I'd say.", Octavio retorted, still unable to take his breath, whatever he did, it must've been exhausting.

-"Every time we go against each other it's just such _fun_! I don't think I'll find another battle like this for days!", ignoring the hostile tone of Octavio, the grey Salmonid was cackling at this point...how the Salmonids found this to be fun, Marie had no idea, "Worry not, however, next time I'll make sure my troops deliver redemption to you with extremely well-sharpened frying pans, the best in their ranks!", he boasted, earning an unimpressed glare from Octavio, "Fine, fine, I get it, you want to get out, don't you? Well, a promise is a promise...just one thing, we have a Steelhead in the troop, and these guys are real thick-headed, so he didn't quite like being left behind...I'm sure you'll know what to do, won't you?", the Salmonid asked, his smile becoming more of a mocking one before another foghorn sounded, "Whoops, that's my call, see you sometime, Octavio.", he finished before sliding, dodging a hydra shot from the octopus with a jump and grabbing one of the Golden Eggs the flying Salmonid left before jumping into the ocean with a big "Splash".

There was no time for chatter or the like, both Callie and Marie quickly turned their heads towards the ocean, expecting another vehicle to come out, but instead, it was a Salmonid. That's probably what made it worse. The Salmonid was huge, its grey scales shined under the evening sun, it was about four times as large as an Inkling, wearing metal armor which covered most of its body, which ended in its mouth with something resembling a gasmask, though lacking the face cover, it had the two iconic filters on its side. Instead of filtering gas, however, it looked like they sucked up something from the so-called "Steelhead"'s mouth, purifying it into something at the top of its helmet, and a plastic bag with the typical Salmonid ink started popping out, before the Steelhead threw it at the trio, its red-pupils almost yelling how mad it was.

No one needed to be told what to do. Even the exhausted Octavio scrambled away from the inflatable bag, which detonated, completely covering the area Octavio had covered.

-"Gonna have to ask you to help me with this one,", Octavio coughed as he tried readying his Hydra, "Don't think I'm really up for this alone after the whole ocean ordeal...", he admitted, taking a deep breath before charging a shot and splatting a good amount of Salmonids, which were accompanying the Steelhead.

-"Righto.", Callie was the one to reply, still having some whimsicalness in her now-serious voice. The two squids looked at each other for a moment and nodded before they assumed their squid-forms, entering the ink and surrounding the Steelhead, which had started ascending their ramp. Callie did her best when it came to distracting the regular Salmonids, giving Marie some time to think about the situation. The Steelhead was about as fast as Marie when it came to non-urgent running. As in, it was pretty slow. No part of its body was vulnerable to ink, or so it seemed, and it had an unusually good attention span, focusing and the cephalopod that's shooting it more, which forced Marie and Octavio to take turns in jumping away from one of its ink bombs.

-"You know what, if this it, then there's no point in staying back, here goes nothin'!", Octavio jumped out of the ink, abandoning the strategy of maintaining a distance. Marie was already trying to shoot the massive bombs that The Steelhead was making alongside Octavio, but pulling the small black revolver one last time, he shot at a bomb that was just about to get thrown towards the cephalopods. He missed; The Steelhead moved its head upwards for the throw, making the ink barely touch the bomb, which was now about to be thrown on him. He cursed, as the shot apparently used the last bits of energy in him, and he was now about to receive a massive Salmonid bomb to the face. Luckily for him, Marie was a quick learner, and in mere seconds, she had charged a Stingray with Chargy and shot the bomb just as it was being thrown.

-"SHINING VICTORY BEEEEEEEEAM!", she cried the top of her lungs as the Stingray directly hit the bomb. She internally smiled at the phrase she and Callie had come up with whenever they seal the deal during a Ranked battle with a Stingray, but given the circumstances, it seemed appropriate enough.

Prematurely detonating, the bomb managed to take out the Steelhead, who let out a startled cry before exploding in a satisfying ink blast. Not that it mattered too much if what Trout was rambling about concerning Respawn Machines was correct, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Marie still didn't speak, she stared at the three Golden Eggs that were dropped, and readied herself for something else, but much to her surprise (and relief), there was nothing. No more crazed laughs, no more whirring machines, no more frying pans, no more cries. And most importantly, no more Salmonids.

It was over.

Marie wanted to hug someone. She almost hugged Octavio before remembering that this was the octopus who squidnapped Callie, so while she was being nicer to him these days, going as far as hugging Octavio wasn't exactly something she'd do. Callie, on the other hand, pulled Marie into a crushing bear-hug, which she returned again. There was something addictive about hugs like these, just how sincere and passionate they were. She hoped she wouldn't get _too_ used to them, otherwise her current standing on the "softie" battle wouldn't be too grand...

-"We did it! We...we won! Take that, you stinkin' Salmonids, we won on your _own_ turf! Hah!", the cheerful pink squid announced to her cousin, somewhat unable to believe the fact before mocking the Salmonids, staring at the ocean that was covering the shore before regretting the act after she heard a growl from the ocean. The trio didn't have much to add, mostly because they were still far too happy about their victory to say anything, so they stuck to gathering the Golden Eggs that were scattered around the place. There must've been a Scrapper or a Drizzler on Callie's side, because Marie counted three eggs more than she anticipated. Dispensing their eggs, the trio waited. The awkward silence never ending even though their victory settled in because no one wanted to be heard by Mr.Grizz or to be interrupted by him. Octavio had picked up his briefcase again which he had stored in the vent on the bottom of the egg container, somehow shoving his weapons and ink-tank in it again, mostly by jumping on them several times and closing the briefcase. In all honesty, Marie should've probably seen that several kilometers away.

-"Not bad...not bad at all...I seem to have an eye for workers here, seems like that was the last of the Salmonids. Yer job is done, here's the way back home.", Mr.Girzz's distorted voice cut through the silent atmosphere of the now-empty Smokeyard as a small, mostly plain boat started appearing on the horizon, and the trio of cephalopods recognized the boat they used to get to this place. The container containing the Golden Eggs started going into the ground again, with the noise of something going through pipes loudly ringing as the metal floor closed the hatch that absorbed the container. No one hesitated for a moment when the boat came close enough, they all super-jumped onto it the moment they could, and then promptly melted on the small benches available.

-"That's the type of performance I was lookin' for back there! True profreshionals, if you want to come back at any time, feel free to do so, now, papa has some eggs to count...", the Grizzco Industries owner cackled at the end before cutting the transmission again, leaving Callie and Marie alone, as Octavio was now effectively imitating a rock again. A very exhausted rock that's still gasping for air.

-"Marie?", Callie asked as she put Rolly next to her, trying to relax from the ordeal they just endured, "We're coming back here sometime, right?", of course Callie, of all people, would find the Salmonids attack on them to be entertaining.

-"No doubt.", and yet Marie couldn't deny it to herself: This was exciting. In spite of the near-death situations they've faced multiple times since they laid a tentacle on The Smokeyard, there was a certain sense of thrill in all of this, and with Callie by her side? It'd be unforgettable. Although hopefully Mr.Grizz lets them choose a less hectic place to go to, as this adventure of theirs drained all of Marie's possible energy for a few days.

-"Well I guess you two are going alone, then. I stick to the promises I make, you two are more than ready for the Salmonids. Just try not to get surrounded. And if you ever see Trout again, kick him and tell him Octavio says "Hi".", Octavio intruded in, his voice still remaining tired before finishing with a small chuckle.

-"Nice to know we got you impressed, Mr.War Veteran.", Marie replied, smirking behind the face-mask, remembering how much she wanted to trade it for her cousin's sunglasses, this mask is really restricting how expressive she can get, "But what's with the beef between you and Trout?", the white-tentacled squid questioned with a small head tilt.

-"How do you even know him, in the first place?", Callie added, hopping onto the conversation.

-"Well...It was really coincidence the first time we met; he was one of the only Salmonids to somewhat fluently speak Octarian, I was tasked with making an ideal trade route between us and the Salmonids. Now I think he either begs to go against me whenever I'm on Salmonid territory or that fate had a hand in this. We've been going at each other for about 10 years at this point, it became something of a tradition between us for Trout to put me in a sticky situation and then waiting for me to somehow find a way to get out of it.", Octavio explained as he scratched the back of his neck, chuckling for a moment, "He's pretty smart, I'll give the bugger that; he was the first to notice the Respawn Machines we've been giving to the Salmonids were tampered with so that they wouldn't work too well, and the first to actually manage to somewhat fix them. No wonder he's climbing the ladder, I'd be surprised if he didn't become a lieutenant next year.", he finished, stretching himself on his bench.

-"Riiight...", Callie started taking the information in, nodding slowly and looking at Marie to see if she registered the information faster. She didn't, "But how did you survive in the water?! I'm no specialist, but I don't think that water was treated like Mahi-Mahi's...And you just jump in the water like it's no big deal?", she demanded, an admiring tone shining in her voice as Octavio looked slightly embarrassed.

-"It's...actually not all that elaborated, I just cover myself with an ink layer that prevents the water from touching me. Or at least, it's supposed to. Prolonged exposure ain't too kind on my poor skin, as you two saw, but it does the job when executed well. Takes a hell of energy, though. Trout actually joked about me adapting to the water the last time we met. Guess he never thought I'd take his advice seriously.", he laughed slightly, shrugging his arms as the two squids on the other bench nodded slowly.

-"Well, it can't be that bad, if you can do it, what's stopping us?", the black-tentacled squid rhetorically asked, trying to encourage her cousin.

-"I think the biggest issue is the fact that we all need some first-aid kits right now.", the short-tentacled squid half-joked as the rest of the group laughed, Callie claiming to be in tip-top shape. In truth, now that the adrenaline was going down, Marie was starting to notice how much damage the trio had sustained: Octavio had several bites and bruises thanks to the frying pans, not to mention the exhaustion he was facing. Marie had a few bites, some ink stains and some bruises, while Callie, due to how close she was to the Salmonids, had the most injuries; several bites spread on her body, some frying-pan bruises, her clothes were basically dripping with ink, and that's not mentioning the large bruise on her right-tentacle, which looked like it could use some bandaging. For Marie, she hoped the post-adrenaline pain wouldn't be too bad, and luckily for her, it wasn't. The boat remained silent for the rest of the trip, as no other cephalopod seemed to be in a talkative mood. That, or that they were afraid Mr. Grizz would be listening.

The moment the boat they were boarding reached the same shore they departed from, no cephalopod on it hesitated, as they all grabbed their belongings and jumped up the vent that led to The Girzzco Industries, building, to think that this place actually seemed safe compared to the Smokeyard...

-"See ya' soon, yer payment's waitin' in the basket to the right, take it or leave it,", Mr.Girzz's voice started ringing inside the industry again, agitating Marie for a moment before she looked to her right, it seemed Mr.Grizz was, surprisingly, not lying, as there were indeed three tickets with some "Grizzco Points" written on them, each of them had about 100 points each. As everyone was admiring their tickets, their employer's voice rang again, "Oh, and for future reference, take an inflatable lifesaver with ya', they're reusable and they save you a lot of troubles if you get splatted, basically it keeps you up until someone helps ya', and they save me a heap of papers I'll need to sign...", he recommended as the trio passed by a box of the packets they saw on the heads of The Octoling group that got out before their entry. Never before had Marie wanted to slap herself more; all this stress, all this danger, _just because they didn't spot the box while they were entering the building_.

As the three invertebrates got out, they instinctively headed towards the small vending-point on their right, hoping to see what they could get after such an adventure. Heading there, the three slid their tickets under the glass vending point, waiting for something to pop out. Not much later, they were handed three differently colored capsules, which they raced to grab, each cephalopod ending up with a random one.

-"HOLY- Three drink tickets? I only saw such an amount in The Octo Canyon, and that was over the span of a month!", Marie gushed as she admired the golden tickets in the blue capsule; considering how valuable (not to mention delicious) Crusty Sean's drinks were, it's no surprise these tickets would be considered treasures in The Square.

-"I got some cash!", Callie announced as she opened the yellow capsule. Cash was always useful, as such, it was no wonder that Callie, who did have some questionable buying habits, would find it useful. All eyes then turned to Octavio and his dark-pink capsule.

-"...You've got to be fishing kidding me...", he mumbled as he glared at the inside of his capsule: some black boots. "All of this for black boots?! I already _have_ black boots that are way nicer!", he loudly complained, pointing to his choice of boots as the two squid cousins burst into laughter at his sight. Taking a large sigh, Octavio started heading towards the manhole vent on the ground, making the two squids have to be the ones following him.

-"C'mon, Octavio, don't be such a Saltspray Rig, we had fun, that's the most important thing, no?", Callie tried cheering him up as she caught up with him, stopping him before he jumped down, earning a somewhat mocking look from him.

-"Nah, I prefer actual prizes after nearly heading to my personal death.", he argued before going down the vent. Marie immediately caught up and jumped after him; she was _not_ letting Octavio alone with their belongings, not a chance.

The first sound she heard when she popped out of the other side was the sound of Octavio's briefcase hitting the ground before its owner let out a sigh of relief.

-"Prison sweet Prison, oh how I've missed you.", he mumbled as he admired the place, ignoring the two squids that followed him, "No crazy fish that want to have me for lunch or deliver redemption to me by fry pan-ing me to death, no political crises to face, just The Council reminding me that I'm responsible for an entire race that is living in intolerable conditions and my favorite Idols. This is my kind of life.", he continued his speech before sighing and heading to his briefcase again, trying to open it.

-"So, I'm guessing you're gonna have to make that speech soon, yeah?", Marie inquired, snatching her face-mask off and finally getting some fresh air as the purple octopus opened his briefcase, fumbling inside it for something and being forced to throw out some of his things, like the black revolver he's been using for the day.

-"'Course I am, don't wanna lose my job as the president-king thingy, do I?", he dryly laughed, almost as if the phrase was sarcastic, "You two do your thing, I'm gonna have to take some time here to find the stuff I need...", he said, digging his head into his briefcase and leaving the two squid Idols to themselves.

Of course, the first thing they did was get out of their disguises, having been completely drenched in ink, getting into their comfortable shirts and shorts was something Marie considered priceless, even if she did think that the weather wasn't really in favor of shorts. Perhaps she'd have to get her trusty winter-pants sooner than she expected.

-"Did you really have to get so close to the Salmonids, Cal?", despite Callie's protests, Marie's first concern was bandaging the two, which for Callie meant spending a while on her knees as the white-tentacled squid started applying bandages, disinfectants and taking care of her bruises. By the time she had finished, the peppy squid seemed like she just got out of the hospital; she had a ridiculously large bandage wrapped around her right tentacle and a heap of plasters scattered on her legs, arms, and basically anywhere else Marie could reach.

-"Of course I did, what else was I supposed to do, fling ink from afar with Rolly?", the black-tentacled squid replied as she switched turns with her co-Idol, trying her hand at bandaging. She wasn't horrible at it, but when Callie was the squid that always needed bandaging, it wasn't easy to adapt to this situation.

-"Yeah? Would be safer than barging in and getting your tentacles bitten.", the white-tentacled squid responded, holding back a small wince as Callie removed a plaster she accidentally misplaced. In all truthful honesty, Marie had taken quite a beating herself, but at least she didn't go _in the middle_ of the Salmonids horde.

-"And where's the fun in that?", the magenta squid asked, if it wasn't for how much time Marie had spent with her, she might've thought the question was actually serious. She sufficed with rolling her eyes as she got her left ankle bandaged; it had gotten more than a few bites in The Smokeyard.

After they had finally bandaged themselves, they headed to inspect Octavio. He had just finished getting a small video-camera and a camera-stand out of his briefcase by the time the two arrived, seemingly in a hurry and rushing towards the kitchen.

-"This won't do...No it won't, the stand is too short; it'll never be able to capture my face without some extra centimeters...of course the one time I try saving cash it backfires in my face...typical...", he muttered to himself, rummaging through several of the kitchen's cabinets. Before Marie had enough time to ask him just what he was doing, and how this was in any shape or form going to contribute to his speech, he had already gotten the pizza boxes that Marie had stored in there for later disposal out. Just as her confusion was further fueled, the older Octoling raised a knee, lifted the pizza boxes and, for the lack of any other applicable word, suplexed them.

-"...What exactly was the purpose of this...?", Marie was the first one to speak, dumbfounded by Octavio's actions, who was now admiring the neatly suplexed pieces in his hands.

-"These boxes should give the camera enough height to just get my face, I'm hoping.", the octopus answered hastily, demonstrating as he tried adjusting his video-camera's stand on the suplexed pizza boxes, which wasn't too easy, considering the carton boxes weren't really able to hold the weight of the camera. But after some careful adjusting,it seemed stable. For the moment, anyways, "Gonna wait until the sun goes down; don't want any Octolings to manage to figure out where I am and try to "heroically" save me.", he added, pointing to the sun, which was going to be engulfed by the horizon in a few minutes.

He tried taking a long breath for a moment, apparently mentally readying himself before his phone went off again. It was the same tune that rang on the boat, but it seemed Octavio was the one startled this time, given the fact he nearly jumped as the orchestral piece played in his coat's pocket.

-"Hey Tonga,", he immediately answered after taking the octopus-shaped phone out of his pocket, giving a worried look to the squid Idols in front of him, but after seeing no violent reaction from the pair, his worry was relieved, "Nonono, it's fine, I'm currently safe, I even got the camera set-up!...What? Oh...uh, well, y'know, after the speech you'll be the one cleaning the mess, since you're-Yes, I'm well aware it's not fair, but none of our tasks really are, _general_. Don't give me that! You're the best general I have in the army, you'll know what to do. If things go bad?...Well, Kermadec is always there for you, isn't he? Pffft, I wish I could see you two bicker...Yeah, yeah, no worries, The Council told you that it's fine to broadcast before seven if I can? Alright, just waiting for the sun to go down. Anything I can do for ya'? Oh? Uh-huh...of course you do...gimme a moment.", a massive smug grin suddenly grew on Octavio's face as he got something out of one of his coat's pockets: A small paper that Marie recognized as the one Callie signed on Tonga's request. Octavio adjusted the paper and took a picture with his phone before tapping a few things on his phone and putting it back next to his ear. Well, whatever was left of his right ear, anyways.

-"Did you see it?", the taller Octoling asked with some anticipation in his voice. For a while the phone remained completely silent. Nothing more than a small buzzing sound the other side. Then, suddenly, the biggest, most high-pitched scream Marie heard in a while came from the other side, forcing poor Octavio to push the phone away from his ear in surprise. "Calm down a bit, buddy, you're probably scaring Kermadec to death!", Octavio yelled back in the phone to manage to get his voice to Tonga, who kept yelling for a moment before starting to calm down, "Heh, I knew you'd like it. Aw, don't thank me pal, you need to thank a certain squid...I'll tell her, don't worry, yeah. Alright, Glory and Victory to you, I'll start broadcasting in abouuut...12 minutes, get ready, I've already messed with my camera's settings to broadcast to your location, make sure to be ready. See you soon, pal.", he finished the call as a beep came from the other side and Octavio pocketed his phone again.

-"So he liked it?", Callie asked with great enthusiasm as the two other cephalopds burst with laughter.

-"I think he did.", Marie was the one to answer, still laughing from her cousin's reaction.

-"Well, I'm glad he did. Been a while since he's been so happy and-Oh come on! Who is it now?!", before Octavio could even finish his sentence, his phone rang again, though this time, it was a different tune. It took Marie a slight moment to recognize it, but when she did, she couldn't help but smile; it was the same Calamari Inkantation remix she made in order to bring Callie back to her senses back when Octavio squidnapped her. She always loved the thing, it simply took Calamari Inkantation and made even _better_. How? She didn't know. She put that thing together in the heat of the moment, and sure enough, it was what managed to bring old, lovable Callie back. Instead of answering immediately, Octavio instead kept listening to the song, an overjoyed smile growing on his face as he started moving in sync with the music, allowing the two cousins to see the caller: Kermadec. There was another selfie behind the name, this time having Kermadec taking the picture, his amber eye taking up most of it while Kermadec was fitted around Octavio, who, in spite of the situation, was holding two fingers and smiling.

-"Heyo!", finally answering the call, the song seemed to improve Octavio's mood massively, prompting a chuckle from the other side, "Yep, here I am, 12 minutes before the inevitable. Hey, when the going gets rough, just laugh. I should try to convince Tonga to do so instead of...well, you get the deal. How're you? Me, I'm pretty good, just waiting to send my people to their doom so that The Council is happy, I couldn't be happier!...What do I do, Kerma? I know I should be strong, but this...this is bigger than me...I know it's my job, I'm not backing down, but it doesn't mean I have to like it...Do me a favor and take care of Tonga, he's gonna need all the emotional help he can get his hands on after this, y'know?...Thanks, I know you two fight a lot and all, but for all it's worth, I think he's actually happy now when you two perform. I haven't seen a heartfelt laugh from him in years, but the smiles, they're real. And I couldn't ask for more. Yeah, yeah, I drifted, sorry...Okay, take care of things, Kermadec, we have ten minutes before it gets-Hmm? My official-HOLYFREAK MY OFFICIAL CLOTHES! Okay, don't panic, thanks for reminding me, Kerma, Glory and Victory to you, here's to a flawless speech!...Might as well have some optimism, Kerma. See ya'", he quickly finished the call as he rushed towards his briefcase again, messily throwing most things out before getting out a few things in his hands that Marie couldn't recognize and sprinting to somewhere else in the outpost.

-"...Should we follow him?", Callie asked her cousin, some worry rising in her voice.

-"Naaah...he'll probably be back sooner than later...", Marie responded, maintaining a casual tone; Octavio had to perform this speech, if he didn't come back in ten minutes, then she'd worry. That, and that she had no energy whatsoever so follow Octavio. She was right, however, as a few minutes later he came back, nearly making the pair shout; he had changed his clothes, and was now resembling someone else completely. The most obvious change was that his blue longcoat was now replaced by a black greatcoat with golden buttons, he fully closed it, and he replaced the horrendous blue jeans with matching black ones, his boots remained, but the most prominent aspect of him now was the black cap he was wearing; it was the typical militaristic cap Marie would see in history books that described the war, but its defining aspects were the red lines decorating the otherwise golden emblems on its front. Sitting in the middle of the cap was a golden octopus residing inside a circle, spreading its tentacles around itself. Needless to say, it definitely gave Octavio more of a leader appearance than his other clothes.

-"Someone get the camera! I need to prepare myself; I only got 47 seconds left!", he shouted, sprinting in front of the camera and adjusting his cap. Not requiring further orders, Callie headed for the camera and started adjusting it like second nature; after all, she _did_ spend a good portion of her life being filmed by them, it was no wonder she had some idea on how to operate them.

-"Take a few feet to the right; you're sitting in the dark.", the long-tentacled squid ordered, and Marie immediately recognized her impresonation of their previous manager, he wasn't a bad person, but he could get quite strict when he needed to be. Which was, most of the time. The joke passed right by Octavio, as he looked puzzled as to why Marie burst out laughing while he was taking the steps to the right. "Alright, we're live in three, two, one...", Callie noted, and in those three seconds, Octavio's face swallowed any kind of emotion that could hint at the fact that he wasn't enjoying this, instead adopting a proud smile and an erect posture, his hands behind his back.

-"Greeting, people of the underground!", he saluted just as Marie lit one of their lamps to make the outpost more agreeable now that the sun had disappeared, "It is I, King Octavio, president of the underground.", he introduced, maintaining a very formal and emotionless voice before suddenly turning to his octopus form and reverting back to his Octoling one nearly immediately, "I believe that's enough proof that I am the man, now, it is clear to anyone that our glorious nation is facing issues. Issues none can deny, and ones so dastardly they made me require to speak to you, my people. Our nation mustn't fall, nor must it remain cowering in the dark! My people, we have been silent for too long, but now, it is time to head once more into the...The Deep.", whatever confidence Octavio had in his voice was entirely evaporated with that last word, he took a small breath before continuing, his voice returning to its original volume, "My people, we shouldn't accept our fates to be so grim, we shouldn't endure such losses with no gains, our resources are thin, and it is why today, fellow Octarians, that I declare the re-integration of the expeditions system back into our society!", he announced, trying to uphold that confident tone of voice, "I'm well aware of what that entails, but we needn't worry, for the past shall hopefully remain in the past, and as such, only those who are _willing_ will be brought into The Anglers Force or The Ink Infantry, for that you must submit for approval at the desk of General Tonga, it is where you will be either approved or rejected. Long may glory shine on you, my people. Oh, and if we do succeed, then I guarantee, my people, that we shall receive great rewards, rewards such as these.", he encouraged as he pulled one of The Golden Eggs he's been keeping from one of his greatcoat's pockets, smirking slyly in the process. "That is all, I wish you all the best of luck, the expeditions' launch date is still undetermined, though I wish they'd be delayed until my eventual return.", he finished, starting to move his arms slightly, displaying the golden buttons of his greatcoat before glaring at somewhere in the outpost, "I can't remain connected for much longer, unfortunately, though General Tonga should be able to answer any concerns, until next time, my people,", he briefly apologized as Marie picked up on his plan and made some noise to give the impression that someone was approaching. It was then Octavio made a military salute and yelled at the top of his lungs, "GLORY AND VICTORY TO THE OCTARIAN KINGDOM!", he cried out, and as he finished, the once-silent Octo Canyon had screams coming out of it. The collective voices of thousands upon thousands of people. She couldn't make out what the cries said, but they appeared to be a continuation of Octavio's yell. Octavio's pose remained unchanged for a second before Callie finally realized he was basically telling her to shut off the camera, which she did in a split-second.

-"Seems like you did alright.", Marie comforted the older Octoling as he started un-buttonning his greatcoat, revealing his Squid Sisters shirt; apparently, he hadn't bothered to change anything under the surface. If the cries responding to Octavio's salute were anything to go by, then he made an impression, if nothing else.

-"Yeah...praying I did, otherwise The Council isn't gonna be too happy...and the people don't quite have fond memories of expeditions from the past... It's gonna be-Oh come on...well, we're gonna find out how well I did...", he worried as the orchestral piece went off in his jeans' pocket again, indicating another call from Tonga. As Octavio answered, the phone erupted into a fit of yelling again, although much happier than before. "HEY! Take it easy on me, what's going on?...What? _The Council approved?_ Holy-and the people are excited?! That's...that's great...Yeah, you could say it's unexpected...Not unpleasant, though...Heh, well,you deal with those thousands of applications, Tonga. Hey, I would've done something if I wasn't captured! Yeah, yeah, send me a message with the details later, gonna try to relax from all of this. Tell Kermadec he should stop being such a big eater. Glory and Victory to you too, Tonga, g'night.", he finished his call as a relieved smile grew on his face.

-"So?", Callie asked immediately as Octavio transformed into an ink blob, returning to his original octopus form, which relieved Marie greatly. Yes, Octavio wasn't the _worst_ person in his Octoling form, but it was much more comforting to guard an octopus about their height than to guard one who you barely reach his shoulders.

-"Good news: Everyone's happy!"

-"And the bad news?", Marie added, awaiting one at this point as Octavio chuckled.

-"They're happy about being sent to their death...At least it's for a good cause...I think...", Octavio sighed before explaining to the light-green squid, "There was a time when everything was so clear...You knew what was wrong and you knew what was right...now everything's just so...so blurry that I can't tell which is which...The Council knows the best for the nation as a whole, I'll give the buggers that, but they have no clue about what's best for the _people_...", he lamented, moving to a nearby chair before slumping on it, looking immensely pleasured, "I forgot just how nice it was to spend a day with no accidents, no action, just me, my octopus form, my favorite Idols and the outpost..."

-"And your globe.", Marie added, grinning at Octavio, who seemed bothered by the thought.

-"I was hoping you two would forget about that after today..."

-"Not a a chance! We promised one hour out of your globe, and I believe you're exhausted that hour already.", Callie objected, raising a finger, although Octavio didn't seem too convinced.

-"I spent the entire day protecting you two from Salmonids and doing speeches.", he commented, earning a look of disapproval from Marie.

-"No one told you you had to come along. 'Sides, don't act like you didn't enjoy it.", the white-tentacled squid noted, prompting an eye-roll from the purple octopus.

-"Fiiine, I guess I did _kinda_ enjoy it, but you don't act like you don't owe me one.", he reluctantly admitted as he pointed towards Callie's wrapped tentacled and Marie's several bandages. He had a point; the two squids didn't know what would've happened had Trout landed on them instead of Octavio. They didn't want to know.

-"Won't do.", the white-tentacled squid promised as she took a seat of her own, starting to feel a pince of hunger in her stomach. Luckily for her, there was some seaweed soup in the fridge from yesterday's chaos, as none of the cephalopods were in any shape to cook. Proposing the idea to have dinner, everyone agreed swiftly and quickly, as an adventure like today's would surely make anyone starve. That part was mostly quiet, with Callie and Marie occasionally chattering about the various things the two faced today.

-"...Yeah, but Octavio wiped out a _massive_ amount with his...Hey, what was that thing you used today to stave off the Salmonids?", Callie suddenly asked as she was recounting how the Salmonids surrounded them and how they could avoid to be surrounded in the future.

-"Oh...that old hunk-of-junk...", Octavio answered casually as he grated a wasabi with a Marie-approved grater, "It's an old weapon we developed during The War. It's supposed to draw an immense amount of ink and use an internal mechanism to shoot it at an enormous speed, but it would use up an entire ink-tank for one shot, so instead it drew ink directly from one's body, since we _are_ basically massive ink-tanks. It grew on me after a while; I really like how much damage it can do, so now I'm using a renewed version.", he explained, stirring his seaweed and wasabi soup before taking a spoonful.

-"But...isn't that dangerous and stuff?", Callie questioned, gazing at Octavio. Marie shared the same thought; if the state of Octavio's arm was any indicator, then while it was quite effective, she still wouldn't trade any of her arms for Octavio's left one.

-"'Course it is! I don't even remember its name anymore, but this thing was made when we were _losing_ The War, so it was basically a last-ditch effort to win The War...of course, it wasn't well tested, but it was marketed as a "miracle-weapon"...And many used it accordingly, all we knew was that we should use six shots at max, but I think I was the only one that actually followed that rule; everyone else shot like mad. An adult Octoling can probably force two or three more shots, but an old man like me? Six is pushing it. The weapon itself was devastating at both close and medium range, and even at long-range it was crippling, so none complained, myself included. Shooting too much, however, can cause some...serious complications...There were even cases of some Octoling soldiers carelessly splatting theirselves by shooting too much...It also hurts like all hell...and the long-term effects vary, just look at how my arm turned out when I almost never went over the limit, I know some who used to fire _twelve_ shots, and for them, the complications were...well, you get the deal, no need to talk about that during dinner.", the purple octopus explained, taking some spoon of soup while he was talking, grabbing both squids' attention.

-"Geez...talk about desperate measures, eh?", Marie nervously laughed; the idea of a weapon so powerful but able to splat its own user was...less than pleasing, to say the least...

-"...You could say that much...Though, I'm in no position to talk, considering what I just did...heh...", the octopus responded with a broken smile, shrugging his tentacles as he finished his soup bowl. "Well, off to my snowglobe, nothing else left to do, is there?", he shifted the mood, leaving his bowl and heading towards his globe, but not without Marie following him and making sure that she locked the globe's locks this time; she wouldn't ever let today's situation repeat again.

-"Well, good night, big octopus, see you tomorrow.", she bid him farewell quickly, and he returned her gesture with a "G'night", even if he did complain a lot about Marie's insistance on making sure the globe was locked herself.

-"So, busy day, huh?", Marie said as she approached her cousin, who was finishing the last drops of her soup.

-"Understatment of the year, Marie.", the black-tentacled squid retorted as her partner took a chair of her own to complete the remainder of her soup. She wasn't wrong; what Marie had originally anticipated as a nifty adventure of theirs turned out to be something far more dangerous, mostly because they forgot the lifesavers, but still.

-"So, any plans for the night?", the light-green squid asked as she handed her now-empty bowl to Callie, letting her do the dishes again. Hey, if Callie didn't object, then Marie didn't, either.

-"Yeah: sit in our beds and sleep.", the magenta squid answered with a tired laugh, and Marie couldn't agree more, for the Salmonids had truly tired her today, even more than usual. Heading to bed eas probably the only thing Marie was faster at than Callie, as she got set in mere moments before rolling herself into her blanket and picking up the "Deep Sea Fauna And You: A Guide" book to see if there was anything of interest regarding the Salmonids.

-"Why can't you be this energetic when you're waking up?!", Callie complained as she got into her bed, sketch book at hand.

-"Because waking up means I'll have to wait another day to sleep again!", the white-tentacled squid argued innocently as Callie sighed. Marie's book seemed to actually contain some decent knowledge about Salmonids, the most frightening of which was the fact that the Salmonids never mobilize their heavy forces to the surface, meaning that whatever they faced today was the _start_. She gulped down the thought and layed her book next to her, laying her head on her perfectly comfortable pillow.

-"Y'know, despite everything, we had fun, no?", the black-tentacled squid interrogated as she quickly sketched something before shielding the sketch book from Marie's eyes.

-"I guess...though I'd much rather fun that has a smaller chance of us getting us splatted.", Marie shurgged, still laying her head on her pillow, "I think these bruises are gonna last for a few days...", she complained as she felt a slight pince on her knees from the Salmonids' bites.

-"C'mon, Mar, where's your adventurous spirit?!"

-"Back in the The Canyon where I left it.", Callie chuckled at her cousin's reply, laying her sketch book on her side as she imitated her cousin.

-"Speaking of which...should we be worried about The Canyon after tonight?", the pink squid worried for a moment; both squids were aware that the paths they walked in The Canyon, The Valley and even The Caverns avoided most of the busy places in such areas, but if the cries they heard after Octavio's speech were anythingto go by, then perhaps there were some Octarians that didn't quite mind fighting, unlike the ones that made it to the surface...

-"Don't quite think so...Worst case scenario, we'll tell them we treated Octavio well.", the short-tentacled squid answered nonchalantly, not wanting to make her cousin panic at this hour.

-"Okie-dokie...goodnight, Marie, thanks for today, it's been a while since my adrenaline pumped so much...", Callie calmed down, her voice starting to slow, indicating that the early bird inside of her was starting to surrender to the joys of sleeping.

-"Same for me, wish you got out of the entire ordeal with less damage, though...", the calmer squid sighed as she tried getting a peek at Callie's bruised tentacle, which, in all truthful honesty, she didn't know if she had badnaged it well enough. "But you did great back there, Cal...Maybe we should try another shift together sooner than later..."

-"'Course we should, softie, just let your own wounds heal up, 'kay?", the long-tentacled squid mumbled, closing her eyes and yawning.

-"Will do. Good night, Callie.", Marie replied, slightly bummed that Callie was the one with the last call on the "Softie" matter today, but she quickly shook the thought off and drifted into her own blissful sleep. A day to remember would be a pretty big understatement to describe their day, as it reminded her of the time she and Callie fought together in The Caverns to retrieve The Great Zapfish, and boy, did she remember just how much she loved those moments. She smiled at the memories before slowly falling to sleep, the only sound echoing in the outpost being Callie's disproportionally loud snores. In hindsight, maybe her deep-sleep ability was acquired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also known as the chapter where I finally make the summary true to the events that happen.
> 
> Good day, noon, or night, folks! I hope you're all doing well, and I heavily apologize for such a long delay between chapters! I did, however, have a lot of fun writing this, so I sincerely hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Will I be able to avoid this long delay next time? Only time will tell, unfortunately, but until next time, everyone, I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always, if there's anything you want to comment on, just tell me in the comments, if there's anything you feel can be improved, just tell me!
> 
> This chapter was a lot of fun; I'm getting more of a grip on writing action, I'm really liking where Octavio is headed, as I can develop him without breaking canon considering there's not much around the fella to begin with, and the Squid Sisters were a joy to write, as you'd expect. Hopefully the next chapter will not only be shorter, as I am not quite pleased with just how massively long this chapter turned out to be, and hopefully the next one will also be less action-packed. Though that may lead to some fluffiness...hmm...decisions, decisions...Bah, in any case, do give your thoughts regarding the handling of characters and action, as I do truly appreciate it!
> 
> As always, until next time, staaaaaaaaaaay fresh!


	6. Relaxing.

Night in the Tentakeel Outpost was something else; it was a calm, relaxing, often enchanting time that could soothe the most wicked of cephalopods. For Marie, that description translated into: "It's the perfect place for sleeping."

Then why the heck was she up in the middle of the night at 3 A.M.? Truthfully, she didn't know herself. There was absolutely nothing she could think of or feel that made her any less willing to resume her wonderful beauty-sleep, yet she couldn't help but feel something was...off. The outpost remained calm, but there was a slight shift in its mood. There was something awake. Callie was obviously out of the question, considering her snores were the only sound echoing in the outpost's emptiness. So that could only leave one octopus, one that was prone to causing trouble, no less.

Indeed, Octavio seemed to be having a rough night. He wasn't exactly waking up, but he was rolling rapidly, constantly banging his squishy body against his globe's glass, producing a soft "squish" everytime he did so. It wasn't unusual for Octavio to have such nights, as Marie discovered when she was keeping watch over him while Callie was away. He'd always wake up shaken afterwards, and sometimes even spend an entire day murmuring incomprehensible things in Octarian to himself. The light-green squid watched him from her bed as he struggled against some invisible thing while he slept. Trying to fend off something or someone while attempting to say something. He had calmed down considerably after Callie's return, probably because he had something to think about other than his life in the underground, with this night being the first rough one in a while, perhaps because of yesterday's events. Just what exactly put him into this state? He never talked about it. And even if he did, then he'd probably snap halfway through, if his state in the mornings following such events was any indicator. A few moments had passed and, as Marie expected, he woke up, visibly distressed and relieved at the same time, looking at the outpost with a sort of unbelieving joy. His gaze met with Marie's and he remained silent for a moment before awkwardly waving, as if to reassure her that everything was alright. He then quickly shrunk again into a ball and attempted to resume his sleep.

Marie sighed as she went back to her slumber; she never liked being woken up from her slumber unless it was for an urgent matter, and she found it difficult to believe that Octavio woke her up in this night when she'd usually truck through the night, oblivious to any happenings thanks to her deep sleep, with the only way she'd figure things out afterwards being Octavio's mood in the following day. Perhaps she was just a little bit on the edge after yesterday. Still, what was worrying him so much?  
Probably something she didn't want to know.  
Octavio, for all his unforgivable mistakes, wasn't the worst person she had gotten to know. Sure, there was no way in heck she'd consider him a friend, not yet, anyways, but she did hate him far less than she did right after the squidnapping incident of Callie.

Did she fully believe his tales about Callie's squidnapping?...Probably. He just talked about them in a way that was difficult to distrust; it was...real, for the lack of a better word. His work seems to force him in situations he simply doesn't like, and she understood that, but surely, _surely_ there was a better method for dealing with the underground's troubles...Some other way that didn't force him to fight The New Squidbeak Splatoon everytime...Perhaps...But now wasn't the time for thinking about these things. At least, not for Marie, as she surrendered to her slumber in the middle of these thoughts, plunging the outpost into its silence once again.

Morning came soon. Too soon for Marie. Well, that's a bit subjective; for Marie, morning _always_ came too soon...Much to her cousin's dismay, who had to endure Marie's complaints about being woken up, yet in the end, Marie obliged to Callie's pestering and followed her to the kitchen, this time not sleeping halfway through. That was an achievement. It was quite a regular morning, truly, and breakfast was mostly composed of the two young squids remembering the day before, still taking in all the information they got...

-"We definitely need to go back to Grizzco at some point.", Callie claimed, taking a seat next to her cousin as the latter turned her head lazily to face her. The small manuals Octavio had brought with him talked about other places set up to watch the Salmonids, and it spoke of some other Salmonid types too, assuming they don't forget the lifesavers this time too, it could be the thrill of a lifetime. With Callie, nontheless, what more could anyone ask for?!

-"Yep. Don't wanna leave any corner unchecked, not to mention, you could probably use all the cash you're getting there.", Marie concurred, smirking a little at the magenta squid and rejoicing as she finally managed to get her expressions across without her dreaded face-mask.

-"...Can't say no to that, but you gotta admit I really stepped down on my purchasing habits, Marie! And don't act like you don't hand your cash like candy whenever you're buying some new clothes, so it's not just me who's not good with cash.", the long-tentacled squid argued back, prompting a "humph" from her partner. Yes, Marie did have the habit of losing herself whenever the pair would be out buying clothes for an event, but even then she'd only spend about...Well, maybe it was best to not discuss the details.

-"Alright, I won't push your buttons...But still, all these lamps could've been bought from someone who wasn't claiming they're Human relics! I bet you paid a fortune for these things...", the light-green squid recalled; Callie always claimed their lamps were ancient human relics based on the things their sellers told her...But in all truthful honesty, only one them looked it it _could_ be somewhat ancient...At least the lamps were actually pretty.

-"Well, what's done's done, no need to dwell on it!", the pink squid cheerfully shut down the topic without paying it much mind, like she'd usually do whenever the duo would discuss their finances...However, she did have a point; these lamps were bought a few years ago, so there was no point in crying over spilt milk.

-"Guess that's true...", her cousin replied with some hesitance, not wanting to make Callie think she approves of her buying habits. As the magenta squid stared blankly at Marie, the latter was getting somewhat confused as to what this intense staring session signified when something hit her like a truck. Duh. "Oh...right, today...", the light-green squid Idol stammered as she bit her index finger. Callie was obviously waiting on a decision on what the two could do for the day...But for Marie, the fact that her knees still stung from the Salmonids bites was enough for her to know her preferred act of the day. Would Callie approve? Not a chance. So, there was only one logical thing for Marie to do to get the point across:

-"We're still licking our wounds. I say we stay home at the outpost and do absolute diddly-squat.", the short-tentacled squid bluntly answered as Callie blinked a few times before laughing for a second.

-"Awww....C'mon, Mar...there's gotta be something you're up for...Ranked? Seeing The Canyon without the pressure of having to save me? It's been a while since we headed to buy some clothes together, y'know, and we want to stay fresh, don't we?", the long-tentacled squid encouraged her cousin, trying to catch her attention with the last proposal, taking advantage of Marie's weak point for clothes.

-"Certainly, but I'd prefer buying clothes when _I'm_ fresh, not when I have so many bandages I look like a mummy!", Marie countered while crossing her arms. Pouting, Callie seemed to know better than to try and convince Marie of getting out when the latter actually had decent reasons for not wanting to leave the safe and comfortable outpost.

-"Fiiiiine....But you better have something to do...", the peppier squid whined as she slumped on her chair. Marie didn't quite know what to do, truthfully. She would've probably tried to sleep again if it wasn't for the fact that Callie may or may not attempt messing with Octavio to have something to do if she doesn't find anything of interest on the Inkternet.

-"...I dunno...maybe you'd like us to...just...chill together...? Talking? Kinda?", the white-tentacled squid proposed, slightly losing the confidence she built up to try and convince her co-Idol of staying at home. The other squid looked like she was about to heavily object for a moment before contemplating the offer for a second time. A small smirk grew across her face as she brought a knuckled fist to her chin.

-"You know what? I'm on board."

-"Wha-really?!", for Callie to be convinced to quickly of Marie's ideas when they concerned laziness, there had to be something on her mind....And Marie didn't know if she was ready for whatever surprise Callie might have in store for her..."Uh...well, I'll be in my bed, see ya'", still, it _was_ a chance for Marie to return to her bed while Callie was there, so even if the energetic squid had something prepared, then at least, Marie would be relaxed when she sees it.

Expecting an unanticipated event at any second, Marie slowly and carefully made her way to her bed, occasionally turning around suddenly to check if Callie was following her or not, prompting a few giggles from the pink squid at her cousin's paranoia, however, Marie's fears seemed to be unbased, because the only thing that was worth noting was how much she damaged her pride with her fear that Callie would somehow jump and scare the living ink out of her. But pride was something that a good nap easily fixed. At least, for Marie it was that way. Her bed was still relatively warm, and she picked back up her "Deep Sea Fauna And You" book, as she was rather interested in the other species that she didn't know about. Though, it didn't seem like the book's knowledge was entirely accurate, if its page about Octarians was anything to go by, stating that Octarians "Are quite rare, and enjoy a calmer life underground away from the heat of sun". Now, Marie wasn't one to speak, but if Octavio's talks were anything to go by, then a _lot_ of Octarians did quite miss the sun...then again, whatever Octavio told her could seem like a strange fever dream that a lone Octarian would dream of to the average Inkling. In fact, she was sure that several Inklings were still convinced that the new Octolings were simply strange-looking Inklings. Perhaps she'd reconsider Octavio's requests of trying to inform Inklings of what Octolings truly are, if nothing else, for her own sanity, so that she'd stop seeing Octolings referred to as Inklings on the Inkternet.

Even so, the book had an amazingly large amount of information on other species, such as Blobfish, described as solitary creatures with a few known settlements undergroud. Peaceful in all but the rarest of situations, they don't quite deal well with stressful situations and the like, preferring to maintain their own little lives. It only made the following subject stand out all the more: Great Barracudas. Now, Marie was a pretty good listener during geography class, way better than Callie, in any case, but no where in the school books did it mention that they are notorious, territorial fish that can, quite literally, rip you a new one if angered. From what the brief description told her, they don't naturally build habitats, preferring to join other species as mercenaries. Very good, cunning, smart, ruthless mercenaries. Apparently, they don't mind getting their fins dirty, alongside their teeth, scales, and pretty much anything and everything they had. The book even had a small section at the end of the topic which directly stated to never encounter a Great Barracuda alone or in the sun, as their scales were great for blinding enemies, and it was strictly advised that one must keep a distance of 5 meters from them to avoid having one of them jump on you. Even less comforting was the small note that advised those cornered by Great Barracudas to write their will or say a prayer. Luckily for her, they only lived underground. Way underground. Probably near The Octarian Kingdom.

-"What'cha reading?", unaware that reading about The Great Barracudas had her on edge, Marie nearly fell from her bed as Callie's voice pierced the silence that she was enjoying.

-"Oh, nothing much, just some fish that could possibly swallow both of us in one bite.", Marie replied nonchallantly, setting her book aside as Callie took her partner's statement in for a moment.

-"Eh, we could probably deal with it.", Callie concluded with a shrug as she sat on her bed, which was, naturally, next to Marie's, scooting a little closer to Marie.

-"Uh...Cal? Anything I can help you with?", the short-tentacled squid questioned as Callie adopted a way-too-big smile, one she'd only wear whenever she had something up her sleeve or whenever she was performing. Considering the situation, Marie was fairly certain it was the former.

-"Remember a few days back when gramps visited and we were all worried then met Pearl and Marina and Octavio had his big show there and then we had dinner with gramps and tried to get Octavio and gramps to talk and they did and a lot of things happened?", her phrases weren't quite coherent, especially when she was using her "speedy-speech" mode, forcing Marie to pay her utmost attention to figure out what the energetic squid Idol was actually saying.

-"Yeaaaaah...? It wasn't that far back..."

-"Well,", the magenta squid's smile somehow grew wider as she started leaning towards her cousin, prompting the other squid to pull back, "Then you'd also remember you told me you'd like to have a tentacle-night soon!", she reminded her cousin, lifting her arms in the air as Marie fell back on her bed from the gesture.

-"...That's...actually true...", alright, Marie _did_ want a relaxing day, but the last time she and Callie tried some fun tentacle styles was _ages_ ago, and boy did she miss the fun of it. Callie always appreciated a good style-change (even if she did always return to her regular style at the of day) to re-fresh her a bit, and Marie always enjoyed their attempts at accepting a new style for their tentacles, so in all truthful honesty, she was splatting for another tentacle-night of theirs.

-"So how about we make that tentacle-night a tentacle-day? You don't seem to be terribly occupied,", Callie noted as she pointed at the now-closed book, "And I'm fairly certain you'd like doing this waaaay before Octavio starts demanding to be released, eh?", she continued her assumption, earning an approving look from Marie; she was definitely not going to appreciate it if Octavio intruded on yet another one of their adventures, and for that adventure to be a tentacle-day, of all things.

-"Alright, you got my attention. I'm on board.", Callie looked like she was about to explode with joy the moment Marie uttered the words, as she tackled her cousin, trying her best to get a hold of the now-struggling Marie's tentacles.

-"Hey-Get off, I can give you my tentacles myse-Ow!...My tentacles...", the light-green squid objected as she tried struggling against her cousin, who had accidentally held on to one of her hurt tentacles from their Salmonid fight. Callie had immediately released her tentacles on the spot, letting the light-green squid caress her hurt tentacle, though the magenta squid still had a firm grip on her cousin.

-"Whoops...right, sorry, thought you'd refuse for some reason...", the long-tentacled squid apologized, sheepishly rubbing her neck as Marie sighed and shook her head, rubbing her tentacles. Yes, Marie wasn't exactly the most accepting squid in the world, and there were several times where she found herself loving something only after Callie forced her to do it, but they already had plenty of tentacle-nights since their childhood, why would Marie refuse now?! Shaking the thought off while grumbling to herself, Marie turned to make her tentacle face Callie, who started excitedly clapping before untying Marie's tentacles.

-"Just like the old days, eh?", Marie commented, trying to spark the inevitable conversation the two would usually have during their tentacle-nights.

-"Yeppers! Just with the tiny difference of it being noon instead of night.", the black-tentacled squid cheerfully joked back, earning a small chuckle from Marie. "Huh...they haven't grown in the slightest...", the remark was probably for herself, but Marie couldn't help but wish for Callie to be a little calmer whenever she spoke to herself.

-"I definitely know that much...", alright, now Marie wasn't the squid that would care _that_ much about what people thought of her if she felt she was fresh, but she was always a little self-conscious about how short her tentacles were for an Inkling. Obviously Callie's enormous tentacles were an exception in general, but most Inklings girls would have their tentacles reaching their waists at about 14 years of age, Marie's, on the other hand, struggled to even go past her shoulders. The way she tied them mostly covered this fact, but in spite of everything she tried (and believe her, she tried _everything_ , and was going to go as far licking an Octotrooper if it wasn't for Callie's interference. Surgery wasn't quite her style, since you never know how things would turn out afterwards), her tentacles remained painfully short. You could even claim she was a little jealous of Callie's, who seemed to have no problem growing them when she wasn't even _trying_.

-"C'mon, Marie, don't be so down, I'm sure a new style can freshen ya' up!", trying to backpedal from the situation, Callie started fiddling with Marie's now loose tentacles, much to the green squid's annoyance; Callie had a thing for fiddling with Marie's tentacles, almost as if they were toys. Marie was unsure why she enjoyed it, but she always tried to not voice her disgruntlement unless Callie went overboard. Which was about 50% of the time. "So, what style do you wanna try?"

-"Well...uh...", truthfully, Marie never knew which tentacle-style to pick whenever she was asked during a tentacle night; she always tied them in her iconic ponytail, so for her, picking something new was somewhat of a challenge,"Weeell...how about...your style...?", the light-green squid finally decided after a few moments of stumbling, still unsure of her decision, not that Callie minded in any shape or form, for the long-tentacled squid burst into a joyous laughter as she started trying to get Marie's tentacles in the style she wanted.

-"Aw, Marie, you big softie, you!"

-"What? I'm just trying out something new...", Marie lazily fended off Callie's claims as the latter tried muffling her laughter, adopting a massive smirk instead. In truth, Marie wasn't lying; she did want to find out how Callie felt, but on the other hand, Callie had always pestered her to try out her style so that they'd "Look just like twins!", and ever since the magenta squid's return, she did want to make her as happy as possible before she needed to part again for her job.

-"Of course you are...Well in that case, I guess I'd better try out your style, eh?", the black-tentacled squid teased with an ever-growing smile on her face, prompting a small sigh from Marie, who knew exactly what Callie wanted, so she eventually gave her an approving nod, much to the other squid's happiness.

-"I've been wanting to try this out since _forever_!", she practically squealed, trying to get Marie's tentacles in the correct style as quick as possible, giggling throughout her attempt at getting Marie's tentacles in the correct position to tie her tentacles in Callie's iconic tentacle knot.

-"Now who's the big softie again?", Marie rhetorically asked, smirking in her own turn as Callie finally finished tying the white-tentacled squid's tentacle-style. It was odd, to say the least, this new style...It felt strange to have one's tentacles so...free. She didn't have a mirror, but she had this strange sensation that she looked almost identical to a Callie with white tentacles, though with far shorter tentacles.

-"Ta-da! How do you feel?", Callie put the finishing touches on Marie's newly-acquired tentacle-style before she gave her back to Marie, not even awaiting the answer, giving her a full view of her tentacles.

-"Well...I feel...free? It's nice, but strange in a way...I don't think my tentacles really suit this style...You tell me, you're the one with the view.", Marie replied hesitantly as she shook her tentacles to get a good feel of them; she was never keen on trying new things, though, since it was with Callie, she was more wiling to try them out.

-"Just as great as ever, Marie!", the black-tentacled squid reassured her cousin as she turned towards her, giving her an encouraging smile, "You gave your all in front of entire crowds back when The Squid Sisters were still the hottest thing, where's all your courage now?", she asked, tilting her head to the side, hitting the bed with her tentacles in the process.

-"I already told you: back in The Canyon. Where I left it.", Marie replied, trying to grasp her cousin's tentacles to start untying them, carefully avoiding to touch the massive bandage wrapped around her right tentacle or the bandages scattered on various parts of her tentacles.

-"...I know it wasn't pretty, but you _reaaaally_ hated the whole thing with Octavio, huh?", the magenta squid nervously laughed as Marie started getting her tentacles out of their enormous knot.

-"Oh, did I ever...You were squidnapped and forced to fight us, Cal, what was I supposed to do, calm down and convince myself everything was fine? Listen, even if I accept Octavio's stories,", the white-tentacled squid objected as she saw that Callie was about to object, "The truth of the matter is that he had you squidnapped and brainwashed. You were in danger. I was worried about you.", she concluded, finally getting Callie's tentacles to untie. Goodness, they were even larger when untied...they were probably twice the length of their owner. Callie actually tried going out with them untied once. She made it about 5 meters before she got back to their apartment because of how difficult it was to drag them in the busy streets of Inkopolis.

-"Yeah, I got that much, softie...", the long-tentacled squid lowered her head as Marie struggled to try and tie her tentacles together, "But, all is well that ends well, right? You just fought off Trout and his Salmonid horde yesterday, for crying out loud, we're not gonna sit here for the rest of our lives and hide just because of one bad event, right?", she continued, lifting her head a bit yet not being able to look at Marie, who was still struggling with her partner's tentacles. She wasn't all that good at tying tentacles that weren't her own.

-"I never said I'd do that!", the usually-calm squid defended herself as she struggled to tie her cousin's tentacles, "I even still air my radio show from time to time when I'm feeling like it or whenever there's a lottery or something...And even if that wasn't there, I'm not going to hide in here for the rest of my life, it's just that...these events...they make you a lot more careful. They make you a lot more scared. I had nights where I'd wake up panicked, thinking that Octavio got you again before I'd see his globe. Ever since your squidnapping, it occurred to me that you're just...not safe. You're probably one of the most famous squids in the world, if Octavio was truly malicious and wanted to squidnap you again, it wouldn't be terribly bothersome for him to find you...", she explained herself, finally managing to actually tie Callie's tentacles.

-"...Wise words coming from you, Mar.", Callie concurred, trying to turn to Marie before the latter turned her head away; she was so close to finishing her tentacles, should she turn now, it could al collapse. "Guess we're lucky Octavio's not all that bad, eh?", she continued, shaking her head a bit to try and point to Marie.

-"...Maybe...", even without seeing her face Marie could _feel_ Callie's puzzled look, so she resumed, "Listen, I know you took a liking to him, but I can't quite say I _trust_ him...not after what he did to you. I believe him...to a certain extent, but still...It's just a difficult situation all-around, and we're just stuck in the middle...", she justified herself, putting the finishing touches on Callie's tentacles as she was forced to stand on her bed; Callie's tentacle style was getting quite high due to how long her tentacles were in the first place.

-"I guess that's why I need ya'.", the pink squid mumbled, much to Marie's shock, who nearly tumbled on her bed, "It's the truth! What if Octavio _was_ really lying? You're the only squid that would be ready to face him again,the only squid that'd have some clue on what he'd do...Me, I'd probably try to convince him to not be evil and stuff while he squidnaps me for a third time...", the two squids laughed together for a moment as Marie was finally finished with Callie's tentacles.

-"And I guess I'll need ya' if Octavio doesn't turn out to be lying to be able to give him an apology.", her partner echoed while Callie finally turned to face Marie. She looked a lot like Marie would, except her tentacles' knot was about twice the size of Marie's. That, and the knot's size made it appear like an oversized hat. It was amazing.

-"Marie! You look fantastic!", the long-tentacled squid cried as she saw her cousin. To tell the truth, the fact that they barely went past her shoulders didn't do much to help Marie's self-confidence about them, but Callie's encouragements sure did. Even if she couldn't help but want to disagree with her, Callie's sincerity was something that could convince you that the sun would rise from the west. "Hey, Marie, thanks for worrying about me.", the magenta squid suddenly extended an arm to rest it on Marie's shoulder.

-"Hm?"

-"Don't act like you don't know, softie!", Callie teased as she stuck her tongue out for a small moment. In truth, Marie's surprise mostly stemmed from the sudden change in topic, "But really...you've been worrying yourself a lot about me these days...and while I never say it much, it means the world to me, Mar. Just take care of yourself too, and don't worry your head too much, alright?", she continued, holding Marie's shoulder a little more firmly.

-"...I'll try, but I can't make any promises, Cal...you won't be here forever, unfortunately, and I want you to at least enjoy these few moments...", the light-green squid Idol justified with a small smile as the other squid smirked for a moment.

-"It ain't what I wanted either, softie, but at the very least, know that I am really enjoying all of this. You really don't know how much it means to me.", she cemented her statement as Marie chuckled and retorted:

-"And they say I'm the softie around these parts.", the two cousins chuckled together for a moment before admiring their new tentacle-styles again. As unfitting as they were, there was also something whimsical about them. Would they ever go out with them like that? Probably not, but for today, they'd at least have something to laugh at. A moment later, Callie got off the bed, trying to adjust to the world with her newly reshaped tentacles, almost losing her balance because of how large they were. Watching her was amusing to Marie, who suddenly felt a lot more free and light as her tentacles dangled on her shoulders while she was catching up to the magenta squid.

-"Where are you headed to?", she questioned, managing to catch up to her cousin easily, perhaps for the first time in her life, thanks to Callie still getting used to balancing her tentacles when they're so closely tied.

-"Getting Octavio's dishes, duh, the guy never cares to put them in the sink.", the energetic squid replied as she regained control over her balance, rolling her eyes a little.

-"Gee, I wonder why?", Marie wondered with fake innocence, putting a knuckled fist to her chin; Octavio probably had difficulty breaking free from his globe without chattering it, which meant that as long as he wasn't planning another large-scale operation, he probably wouldn't be able to break the triple-locked lock Marie installed.

-"Probably because he's lazy.", Callie answered with a confident tone, putting on a frowning face to accentuate her fake irritation. The pair took a small moment to giggle as they reached Octavio's globe. He looked...neutral; he wasn't bored out of his wits thanks to his phone, but he didn't exactly look happy, either. Tapping at his phone with his tentacles, he failed to notice the two squids' arrival, only lifting his eyes after a moment and looking slightly shocked.

-"...Alright, when did you dye your hair?", his eyes switched between the two, who decided to play along and posed for a moment as Octavio's confusion waned, "Wait...your tentacles...So you changed styles?", it started dawning on him, prompting a nod from the pair. Marie was still getting used to how free her tentacles felt when it moved with her head. It was odd to her, but she didn't dislike it either.

-"Took ya' long enough. Hand over the dishes and nobody gets hurt!", Callie was the one to answer, finger-gunning the purple octopus with a smirk. He seemed unimpressed, even if he did execute her order, pushing his plate near the small vent on the bottom of his globe.

-"It wouldn't kill you to play along, y'know.", the black-tentacled squid said with a slightly disappointed tone as she took the plate; she probably thought Octavio would be a little more accepting to her antics after yesterday.

-"Yeah, yeah...I know...I'm just trying to grasp the whole thing with The Octarians and...The Deep...it's complicated stuff, really...", he half-apologized as he sighed, bringing a tentacle to his temple. "I still need to know where the troops are going to be mobilized...Or _when_ they'll actually be mobilized...It's...It's a King's job, it's what it is.", his mumblings made it seem like he was talking to himself more than anything else.

-"I'd say The Octarians loved your speech, if their cries were anything to go by.", Marie commented as Callie scuffled away with the porcelain plate, catching Octavio's attention.

-"...Yeah, I knew that much...Poor Tonga's gonna need to deal with thousands of applications...My issue is what I'm going to _do_ with them. I mean, my job is to know these things are necessary evils at times so it's a natural result, I guess.", he forced a chuckle while shrugging, sounding a bit uncertain. Marie chuckled in her turn with a forced chuckle to try and ease the atmosphere as Callie arrived once again, looking extremely confused as to what was the reason for this strange chuckling session.

-"Speaking of which...", Marie suddenly remembered as both her and Octavio stopped their artificial chuckles, "If Tonga's like, your best general in the army and such, isn't he a little too...old and busy to be obsessing over Idols?", she asked, trying to phrase the question as inoffensively as possible to avoid any possible conflict.

-"...Yeaaah...About that...", he tried answering, as if the answer was too difficult to spill out, "As long as it stops his PTSD episodes, I don't mind. I mean, I _am_ The Squid Sisters' biggest fan, so I don't mind in any case,and we both learned how to hide our interests from the public's eye, but Tonga's a special case...", he finally stated, holding back a laugh from the unbelieving expression that was now drawn on the two young squids' faces.

-"As long as it stops his what now?", asking the obvious question, Marie was the one to start wondering if her hearing was actually alright.

-"I already told you that many of us weren't doing well after The War...Tonga was one of people hurt the most. And I mean enormously hurt. Both physically and emotionally. He's...I wouldn't say he's unstable, but he's...He needs someone to stay with him. I dunno why, but he fell in love with you when he first saw The Squid Sisters,", the purple octopus explained, pointing to Callie with a tentacle, "And he started getting a lot happier afterwards. I can't blame him for liking a ball of energy like Callie; she probably reminds him of himself in a much simpler time.", he finished with an unenthusiastic tone, waiting for the two cousins to fully register what he said.

-"...I see. Yet you still have him as a general in the army.", the light-green squid informed Octavio with disapproval as her tentacles shook; if Tonga really _was_ suffering so much, wouldn't it have been better to just send him on a retirement or something?

-"I can't neglect his skills, Marie. War makes you learn a lot of things, both good and bad. For Tonga, there's far more good than bad. And I always give him the option to quit if it's too much, I just need the right people in the right place.", the Octarian leader justified himself with an air of dignity, seeming a little frustrated.

-"That's...I never knew I could change someone's life so much...", remaining silent up until this point, Callie finally spoke up, her voice being something between shocked and happy.

-"Well now you know. You're welcome!", Octavio proudly crossed his tentacles, addressing the black-tentacled squid. "But seriously, I gotta thank you for your help. I almost gave up on Tonga going back to his old self until you two showed up, so again, thanks. I'm a thankful octopus.", he resumed, maintaining a grateful tone as he undid his tentacle-cross.

-"Don't be, we just did what we always do. Besides, I already knew Callie changes lives; she changed mine.", Marie boasted, putting an arm around her cousin's neck, earning an "Aw" from her.

-"Softie.", was the only word Callie said, sticking her tongue out for a split-second.

-"Okay, you can do that _elsewhere_ , I'm good with my daily dose of sugar, thanks.", Octavio complained with a comically loud voice, prompting the three cehalopods to holler with laughter for a solid minute and a half.

-"But...But it's true though.", barely masking her laughter, Callie claimed as she poked her cousin's arm, "Isn't it?"

-"No way; I'm just stating facts. Nothing more.", in spite of the fact that she knew her denial would never be taken seriously by neither Callie nor Octavio, Marie wouldn't openly lose her "softie" battle with Callie. Not now, not ever. She tried to reinforce her statement with an arm-cross, which she now realized went pretty well with loose tentacles.

-"Suuuure, I'll buy that...", the long-tentacled squid went along with Marie, shaking her head and drawing Marie's attention back to how unstable Callie's current tentacle-style seemed. A brief moment of silence had passed, with the three cephalopods remaining mostly quiet, with the only phrases spoken being Callie bickering with their captive about whether or not her outfit when she was squidnapped was fresh; Octavio thought it was the freshest thing ever (and to be honest, so did Marie), that his engineers and fashion-makers did their best to make a captivating and fresh outfit and that it suited Callie's style. The black-tentacled squid on the other hand...On one hand, it _did_ have an appeal. Just not an appeal that she liked, especially the pitch-black colour of the suit, which highly contradicted her colour choices, Callie even argued that her aging grandfather could've put something better in 5 minutes, which instantly reminded Marie of something.

-"Hey, do you have gramps' phone number?", breaking the heated discussion and getting both Octavio and Callie's attention, Marie suddenly remembered that her grandfather had promised her to try talking to Octavio, and if he wasn't going to come down to the outpost to do so, why not let them talk from the phone? At least then they'll be far enough from each other so that no harm can be done, unlike what happened when the two were face-to-face.

-"...Yes...I think...Maybe...I got his phone number nineteen years ago...", the purple octopus slowly answered as he registered the sudden question, though Marie's reaction seemed to make him question the legitimacy of his claim.

-" _What?!_ Nineteen years ago?! That's two decades, big octopus, we gave him a new one five years ago.", the light-green squid informed Octavio, who scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I mean, I know you never tried to interact with gramps much, but in case you ever need it, here's his phone number.", she handily plopped a small paper through the globe's vent as she finished her sentence.

-"...Thanks, could come in useful...sooner than you might expect, even...", he slowly responded as he opened his phone and saved the new contact, "He _did_ lead a Splatoon during The War after all...his experience can help...", he justified, lifting his eyes from his phone and bringing them back to the two squids.

-"Yeah, no kidding, but you never even told us _what_ you'll do in this oh-so-elusive Deep...We know you'll send lots of troops, that you'll lose lots of troops there, and that's it.", the white-tentacled squid noted her tentacles gently moving with her head's movements, hoping to squeeze some more information from Octavio, as she and Callie shared the same wish to hear more from Octavio about life in the underground. If nothing else, it would help Callie with her Octarian documentary she was planning to give to her team when she returns to her job.

-"...Just...It's nothing you should be concerned with, alright?", Octavio tried to switch the topic, avoiding to open up the subject, much to the two squids' dismay.

-"Come oooon, at least give us a small hint on what it is!", Callie whined, trying to convince Octavio with her puppy-eyes, prompting Octavio to say something in Octarian which Marie's skills couldn't quite decipher.

-"Alright...But just a small overview, alright? I'm not quite keen on talking about everything...Not yet, anyways...", he proposed, taking a deep breath as both squids shook their heads affirmatively, something he probably expected, but didn't appreciate nonetheless.

-"So, The Deep is... _are_ the territories that don't belong to The Octarians. That's it. There's no more to the story.", he abruptly stopped, faintly hoping that the two squids would somehow, by some miracle, fall for that. From the expressions drawn on their faces, they didn't, "...Fine...But I didn't lie, though...When we first fell down to the underground, we Octarians started expanding onto the rest of the underground...At the price of the other Kingdoms that existed at the time, of course...", he surrendered to their curiosity at last, starting to explain the story, much to the two squids' thrill.

-"Wait, Kingdoms? So there were other people down there?", in her attempt to tilt her head, Callie had completely forgotten how much her new tentacle style weighed, which made her lose balance, forcing Marie to grab a hold of her and get her back on her feet.

-"I think only Marie benefitted from her new style.", attempting to shift the conversation's topic, Octavio watched as Callie regained balance before shifting her attention to him again, much to his disappointment, "Anyways, yeah, there were... _are_ other Kingdoms in the underground, they don't have as many resources, but they're far easier to occupy than the less habitable parts...", he answered, trying to please his listeners without saying too much at the same time.

-"And why is that? Actually, wait...that means you fought another war, right?", Marie questioned, only for Octavio to shiver violently and take a deep breath before shaking his head and trying to regain his calm.

-"...Heh...Nah, we fought other wars...As for why, that's because the less habitable parts are filled with not Kingdoms, but monsters...Horrible, monstrous beings that can tear apart armies...", he responded, staring at the horizon for a moment before dragging his gaze back to the young Idols, as if he remembered he wasn't talking to himself, "Not that the wars with the other Kingdoms were any better for the army, but at least the other side had sentience...", he quickly followed up, seemingly unaware of the entrancement he had inflicted on the two squids listening.

-"And...why was it so horrible, if you don't mind my asking?", Marie, aware of the possible consequences, tried squeezing juuuust a little more information out of Octavio, earning her a glare.

-"Because the other Kingdoms down there don't use ink. They use physical force. Which means it hurts even more. And, since we had just gotten out of The Great Turf War, two thirds of our respawn machines were gone."

-"Ouch.", was all Marie could really reply with, slightly shivering.

-"So doesn't that mean you're still warring as of now?", Callie was the one to notice that detail, prompting a small smile from Octavio.

-"Always silently observing the situation, aren't ya'? Well...No. Thank Cod, we made a truce with the other Kingdoms when both sides had sustained too much damage, though mostly when our army had about a thousand soldiers who could fight.", he admitted, having some displeasure in his voice, "Though, now that we're heading back to The Deep...I think I'll try to take Salmonids' territories this time...Maybe...Or maybe I'll head to this uninhabited parts...It's a tough choice; lose less men but gain less resources? Or sacrifice armies and get lots of resources while solving the overpopulation issue?...I know I'll probably need to chose the second choice, I'm just...Just getting to terms with the matter of fact...", he lamented, giving a weak and soulless chuckle.

-"Ah...So what _are_ the other Kingdoms?", in her attempt to gather as much information as possible, Marie continued interrogating Octavio, getting her an almost threatening glare. For a moment she thought he'd refuse to answer, but he started talking again:

-"Well...there's The Great Swordfish Empire....Imperial Saildinia...The Republic Of Shrance, and a dozen others, probably, but those three were the most remarquable ones back in the wars for underground territory...we mostly avoided Salmonids an-Oh. Right. Sawmany. I had mostly forgotten about that...", he recounted, almost souding regretful at the end.

-"Huh...Interesting...So can we get a quick-and-dirty history less-"

-" _No_ ", almost growling, Octavio rejected Marie's request before she could even finish it, "I am done talking about that! No more questions!...Not today, anyways...", sternly cementing his already obvious sentiment, he crossed his tentacles and looked at the squids with a now-neutral expression.

-"...Fine, sheesh, as you wish, pal...", the white-tentacled squid accepted Octavio's decline, even if she did want him to be calmer about it...not that she blamed him; he was being consistently driven into a corner by the squid pair's questions, it wasn't long before he'd snap.

-"Well, it was a good talk...But I guess you're not thrilled about going back there again, huh?", Callie spoke up, trying to drag Octavio out of his now-worsening mood.

-"Ya' think?", with a soulless chuckle, the Octarian confirmed her suspicions, earning a shy smile from her, "The only good part about it is that they took it with high spirits and aren't going to be demotivated...Aaaand that's about it...Thankfully my speeches are...well, they can get people moving...", he mentioned, slumping slightly in his globe.

-"They sure can!...Just make sure they don't try breaking into the outpost to free you after such speeches...", the long-tentacled squid nervously laughed, trying to seem nonchalant about her demand, which was in reality quite serious.

-"...I don't think they'll do that...I hope not; I've been maintaining the allude that I'm spying on you two for a few years now...Nothing should change the situation.", he tried reassuring the magenta squid. Though, to be able reassure someone, you need to have _some_ sort of confidence in your voice. He didn't have that confidence.

-"Well...I guess we'd better prepare in any case...Just make sure you tuck your shirt in tightly next time; there were some parts of it peeking under your coat yesterday.", the pink squid casually finished her sentence, turning to Marie before noticing that Octavio's face was losing colour.

-" _My shirt was peeking out during my speech?_ ", he repeated, mortified.

-"Yeah, don't worry though, it was only a small part and most of your coat covered it, so I just filmed away from it.", she reassured him, prompting a relieved sigh from him as his face returned to its original purple hues. In truth, Marie hadn't noticed it, though she was certain that The Octarian Council wouldn't have been kind on Octavio had they noticed it...

-"Well. That's a relief...Thanks for that, by the way.", he stated, earning a small "You're welcome" from Callie before he took another breath and pulled out his phone, "Now if you'd excuse me, I have an old man to argue with.", he confidently dialed a number on his phone, unable to hide a smug grin as the phone started ringing.

-"You're not much younger, y'know.", Marie tried to object, but Cap'n Cuttlefish had picked up the phone and Octavio was now focused on that.

-"'Sup old man. You guessed it, it's me. Don't deny, you're older. I need some help. Listen, remember The Deep? Yes, _that_ thing...Well, you see...", the purple octopus started talking with the Cap'n, sometimes sharpening his voice, sometimes softening it, though Marie couldn't make out all of it now that he was speaking to his phone and not to the squids, so she started walking away with Callie, thinking about what she just heard while fiddling with her tentacles now that they were just dangling on her shoulders. It was actually relaxing in way, she noted.

  
-"So...that was interesting.", the black-tentacled squid mumbled as she held into her cousin's arm, trying to maintain her new tentacle-style's balance.

-"Yeppers.", the white-tentacled squid replied, "But not as interesting as my bed.", she tried escaping from her cousin's hold and sprinting to her bed, but alas, one cannot escape from a Roller user's abdominal strength, especially if that Roller user was Callie.

-"Not on my watch, lazy squid!", the long-tentacled squid objected as she held Marie's arm. It wasn't much before Marie gave up. Not much later, they were talking about Callie's new show, which was scheduled after her return. It was going to be a drama show, like all of Callie's shows these days, and she was pretty excited about it. Even though technically speaking she knew basically nothing about it. They spent the rest of their afternoon theorizing about the various things this show could be, eventually trying to best each other in coming up with the most ludicrous theories, with Callie claiming the show will talk about Italian ogres coming to attack Inkopolis because of their hatred of the English cuisine, which was adopted by Inkopolis' inhabitants. Marie wasn't able to top that one because of how much she was laughing.

-"I-It wouldn't be the most ridiculous thing on TV, to be honest.", the short-tentacled squid managed to say, trying to control her laughter as Callie nodded.

-"Yeah, I know my manager's working on quite a few different things and half of them are two times more ridiculous than what we said. It's amazing.", she mentioned, trying to take her breath as she finally quelled her laughter.

-"Ah, the world of television madness. I miss it sometimes.", the light-green squid admitted, finally regaining control over her breathing.

-"Gotta admit, it _is_ quite fun...exhausting, though...", the long-tentacled squid concurred, shaking her head in agreement and nearly losing balance again.

-"You don't say; you slept like a rock for the first two days you were here. Not that I'd need to work on the big screen to sleep like a rock, but still...", Marie claimed, earning a smile from Callie, who then looked as if she remembered something.

-"Hey, Marie, what do you think you'll do after I leave?", the question was so sudden Marie whipped her head at a drastic speed to Callie, making her tentacles sap her cheek. Not a good move; her neck was going to hurt for a while...

-"I...I dunno...I don't like thinking about it...Whenever that happens I guess I'll just do what I've done before: Monitor Octavio and show up on the radio whenever I need some cash...Maybe I could even take Octavio with me on Grizzco trips if I ever get _too_ bored...Or maybe I'll get a small TV job, I kinda missed the field, y'know...", she responded, slightly hesitating as her cousin listened attentively.

-"That's good to hear. That you have something to do, I mean; I was worried about you, y'know. I don't like leaving...But it's part of the job. Maybe this time it'll be shorter, Marie.", the magenta squid happily replied, gaining a small smile from her partner.

-"Or maybe this time Octavio will break out and we'll _have_ to reunite to put him back in his globe.", the white-tentacled squid suggested, trying to sound annoyed.

-"It's not far-fetched, you know! With everything that's happening around him these days...", the black-tentacled squid reminded her cousin with an uncertain smile, but Marie only shrugged.

-"Eh, at least it'll be interesting. That, and that you'll come back if that happens, so that's a plus.", she claimed, keeping a nonchalant voice.

-"True."

-"Do we have something for dinner?", after a brief pause of awkward silence, Marie decided to break said silence with the first thing that came to her mind, which was the pinching feeling in her stomach.

-"Sure we do! C'mon, we'll see what we have in the kitchen.", Callie assured her cousin, grabbing her arm and dragging her into their makeshift kitchen. Time passed quickly, with Callie trying to teach Marie to cook something that's slightly harder to make than a boiled egg or seaweed stew. Finally deciding on trying out something new: Mountain-style steak with rice and vegetables. The decision was mostly made to motivate a reluctant Marie to cook, even if the food wasn't Callie's taste, so Marie did her best to follow Callie's instructions, and around one to two hours later, their kitchen wasn't burning, which was a surprise to both squids. After many struggles, sacrifices, tears and broken spirits, their dinner was made. The steak was chewy and the vegetables tasted like rubbery, but it was something edible that Marie had made that had a _somewhat_ decent taste. She was fairly proud of that, even if it _was_ mostly because of Callie's help.

-"Did you put enough salt?", the pink squid interrogated just as she was about to take a spoonful of her plate.

-"Maybe.", luckily for the pair, it appeared that Marie had, in fact, not forgotten about the fact that salt makes food taste better.

-"It's pretty good. Next time you'll probably be able to do it without setting the kitchen on fire!", Callie complimented. While the compliment itself seemed sarcastic, it _was_ actually applicable for Marie, which kinda made it even more sarcastic, even though Marie knew that her cousin's sarcasm was only ever used on rare times, which made it more shocking whenever it was used.

-"Good stuff. Thanks!", but whether or not Callie was being sincere (and Marie had to be honest with herself, she probably was), Marie wouldn't turn down a compliment. Their dinner was fairly regular after that, with both squids commenting on the food. Some laughs were shared, and after Marie had, with heavy heart, mind you, let Callie do the dishes, the two started to wonder about the phone call Octavio had with their grandfather.

-"Hey, how's it going?", rushing to the globe and leaving her cousin to try and catch up to her, Callie was the first to arrive, catching Octavio slightly off guard as he watched her balance herself out with the new tentacle-style of hers.

-"...Fine? Is this the correct answer? Am I being interrogated?", rapidly asking his questions, he managed to provoke a grin from the pink squid while her cousin finally reached her, gasping as she took her breath.

-"N-No, just...just asking what happened between you and gramps...", still regulating her breathing, Marie clarified, gaining a strange look from Octavio which she couldn't quite get what emotions it was conveying.

-"Good? Maybe? We yelled at each other but he finally listened to me...I think he did, anyways...I told him the situation and he told me some strategic tips. I hope they help me...He also told me to search for allies, but that's a given. I mean, I've been in this field for half a century now, at least treat me with some respect!", almost as if he was restating the events for himself, he recounted the call, sometimes ignoring the presence of the two squid Idols. "Oh, right, he also told me to tell you two that he said hello. Agent 3 is apparently doing well with his training, and he also said you two shouldn't sleep late.", he then recalled the last details, almost lazily.

-"Bet you're not happy Agent 3's getting more training, big octopus.", Marie teased, flashing a grin as Octavio neared the globe's glass.

-"Well, get ready to lose that bet, 'cause I'm not threatened by a teenage squid that I lost to intentionally.", he denied, adopting a mocking tone.

-"Maybe next time it won't be intentional.", benefiting from the triple-locked lock, the light-green squid took a step forward at her turn, being now face-to-face with Octavio, who wore a challenged expression.

-"That's all?", ignoring the fact that her cousin and Octavio were practically fighting each other, Callie interrogated, resisting the urge to tilt her head, lest she fall and lose her balance.

-"Whaddya expect? A life story?...Quit it with that look, I ain't gonna be the first to try and re-friend Craig. Not by a long shot...In the foreseeable future, anyways...", deciphering Callie's gaze, the purple octopus rejected what he thought were her thoughts. He was fairly accurate, all things considered."But I don't mind being enemies with him...Or just anything to break his denial of any semblance of a past friendship...Stubborn old man...", he quietly reassessed his statement, almost talking to himself.

-"Well...I won't force ya'...But I was hoping for some progress.", the pink squid admitted, dropping her gaze and making the Octarian leader raise an eyebrow.

-"I think you care for this more than Craig could ever claim to.", he claimed.

-"Well, don't _you_ want things to be back like the old days?", the energetic squid replied, and he needed a second to think of a reply.

-"I can't say I don't...but things are complicated now...Too complicated. I think we're on the right track...But it's still gonna be a while before one of us raises an olive branch. You two don't worry about two grumpy old men like us, I'm sure I'll get Craig to hate me less...Someday...", he slowly answered, trying to give a weak smile as Callie nodded and returned the smile with a far happier one.

-"Well, tell us if something comes up, alright? Wouldn't want you two to kill each other whenever we're away.", Marie entered the conversation, giving Octavio a smirk as he narrowed his eyes. She was quite liking how her new tentacle-style suited her, considering it didn't make her feel embarrassed when she was being snarky with Octavio. That was the sole test a style needed to pass for Marie.

-"We'll see.", was all he replied with. With a new wave of silence, the two squid Idols headed away, waving at Octavio.

-"We're gonna need to make them meet up at some point.", Marie declared as a matter of fact as Octavio turned his gaze away, sufficing with a lazy wave at the duo, earning a nod of agreement from her cousin. Walking to nowhere in particular, Marie could feel that Callie was dragging her to their bed. Rejoicing at first, Marie then realized she was with Callie, and as such quelled her expectations.

-"Sooo...I've been meaning to show you something for a while now...It's...okay, not great, but I think you'll like it.", the pink squid started, seeming-and this was _really_ rare for Callie-a bit hesitant and unconfident. She quickly got rid of this feeling as she flashed one of her iconic smiles, heading to her sketch book and starting to open it before stopping at one page and showing it to Marie. "Well, how is it?"

In front of Marie was a drawing of both of them. It was neatly shadowed, and it had remarkable details. Callie was giving one of her surprise hugs to Marie, and unlike her usual self, Marie was smiling in return. The image boomed of sincerity. It was relatively clean, and even with some of the less neat parts, Marie couldn't help but sprout a massive smile involuntary. It was a small pencil sketch, but for Marie, it was a gold sculpture. She looked at her cousin, who seemed relieved at Marie's smile.

-"It's beautiful, Cal.", there was a sense of unmatched glee in Marie's voice. It might've been a simple drawing, but to Marie it meant so, so much. The simple idea that Callie cared enough to make the main element of her drawing to be her and Marie hanging out together was, to put it simply, touching.

-"Aw, Marieee! I was really worried about this one...I really wanted you to like this one, y'know, but I guess you being a big ol' softie these days played a big role in this, huh?", her smirk was wide, but it had no mocking elements, but pure, fun teasing.

-"Nope. I just really love it.", not lifting her eyes off the drawing, Marie's answer was quite straightforward.

-"Well, I'm not complaining, soft squid.", the long tentacled squid concluded as she finally started closing her sketch book, keeping her wide smile.

-"I gotta say, it was worth the wait.", the white-tentacled squid declared, looking at Callie's tentacles as they wiggled, dangerously threatening to tilt the balance of the energetic squid. The latter responded with a "Thanks!"

-"I think I'll try keeping them like this for the rest of the day; they won't survive the night in any case.", as if she sensed her cousin's thoughts, Callie commented on her tentacle-style. She wasn't wrong; Callie was...not a calm sleeper, and her movements in her sleep, believe it or not, could get pretty energetic. Go figure. While this mostly woke Marie up, it also gave her a few chances to hear Callie sleep-talk.

-"So did you like it?", curious about her cousin's opinions about the style, Marie asked, perking up for a moment.

-"Did I?! It's something new, Marie, and it reminds me of you, how could I not like it?", the magenta squid responded with her usual peppiness, prompting a smug grin from Marie.

-"Looks like I'm not the softest squid around here, softie.", restarting their ever-continuous fight of softness, the light green squid commented, earning a grin from Callie.

-"Seems like you're forgetting your own history, Marie.", she reminded the light-green squid Idol, getting a challenged glare.

-"To me it just looks like you're trying to forget your current state of softness, softie.", she argued back. Just as things were getting heated, the two chuckled for a brief moment. To think they'd been getting this much into calling each other softies. The best part was that everyone in The Tentakeel Outpost was _technically_ a softie, so there was no winning or losing this contest.

The rest of the day was fairly leisurely, and there was nothing to be done other than talk, bicker, and theorize about various things such as Octavio's plans, how their grand-father was doing or what the two would do the next day; Callie had rightfully decided that they spent far too much time each day plotting its events, so she took the lead and decided that they'd be ready tomorrow. After many discussions, it was decided they'd go shopping. It was a while since they'd last done that. Otherwise, it was going to be Ranked. Although things got...intense at times during Ranked, it was still good fun whenever you weren't losing, and both Callie and Marie had no intentions of losing their S+ Rank. So long as they could, anyways.

Time passed, and soon the night had engulfed the dark red sky of the evening, and after spending the early night doing their thing, the two squid Idols had finally decided to call it a day. Marie had had enough of reading about the deep sea's fauna for the day (especially when half of that fauna was, apparently, mostly lethal), and there was nothing interesting on The Inkternet, excluding the new Splatfest, of course. Pearl and Marina were doing their best, it seemed, their bicker reminded the pair of their _own_ bicker on Inkopolis News. Of course, it was mostly for the show, even if there were some actual punches pulled every now and again. She did quite like the newly-made Idols, though, and she was certain they should do something together soon. Maybe they'd stop Octavio together this time and not take a month to do so. Or maybe Octavio would improve his defenses if he was serious and probably defeat them all. The possibilities were endless, and the moment she brought it up with Callie, the magenta squid beamed at the thought. It was obvious she was fond of the Off The Hook pair, even when she didn't know them all that well, not that it was unusual for Callie to generally be trusting of others; she's trying to forgive the octopus who squidnapped her, for crying out loud.

-"Marie?", the black-tentacled squid asked as she was getting herself into her bed.

-"Hm?"

-"Is Octavio a king or a president? The Council calls him a president, but he refers to himself as a king.", Marie turned her head to face her co-Idol, unsure if she was to take the sudden question seriously or not. After a small second of debating herself, she decided that Callie was probably serious. And that she had probably spent more than an hour thinking about this.

-"Hey!", however, the answer was a bit difficult to figure out, but there was one cephalopod that could answer it, and he was captured in a globe inside their outpost. Her shout caught Octavio off-guard as he snapped his neck (well, whatever neck was holding his head in his octopus form, considering there was no clear neck) to her, seemingly wondering what he had done wrong. "Are you a king or a president?", she repeated Callie's question, earning a blank stare for while before he blinked several times, taking the sudden question in. He was probably wondering how or why it was brought up considering there was no reason behind it before he had decided that he'd answer anyways:

-"We're the Octarian _Kingdom_ , The Council calls me a president because we have a mostly democratic system and since they want to make me feel less royal. Too bad for the suckers; I'm only recognized as a president by them, everyone else calls me king. I mean, it wouldn't be a kingdom otherwise, eh?", he replied, a smug tone in his voice as he mentioned The Council. "There was supposed to be a royal family, but most of it has been splatted during the different wars we faced and the current heir is a bit too young, so I'm _theoretically_ a king only in name, serving until the heir takes the throne, but in reality I'm the king in every aspect of the job.", he picked up his sentence, keeping a casual tone in his voice.

-"Huh. Neat, I guess.", Marie replied lazily, earning an unamused expression from the purple octopus in front of her, who probably didn't appreciate her dismissive reply. "Well there's your answer, Cal.", ignoring the fact that Octavio was probably cursing her in Octarian, judging from his tone of voice, she turned to the black-tentacled squid next to her, who seemed to be quite interested in the general way of things in The Octarian Kingdom.

-"Thanks, Mar! Really appreciate it; it's been in the back of my head for a while now, and I just needed to scratch the itch, ya' know?", the long-tentacled squid eagerly responded, prompting Marie to shrug.

-"Actually, I don't really know, considering I don't have that itch most of the time.", her cousin replied, making Callie roll her eyes. It was true that while she did get herself into somethings that she had no business in at times, Marie mostly kept to herself, and even if there was something she was curious about, she'd keep it down until Callie would be there to ask about it, Octavio's interrogation was an exception, and even then, she'd known the Octarian leader for years at this point, she didn't consider interrogating him out of her field.

-"Well, you should consider having it every once in a while, would open the door for some fun things for us to do. Besides, if we both press Octavio at the same time, he might speak a bit more!", the magenta squid encouraged her partner as she laid her head on her pillow, and Marie looked like she was considering it.

-"Yeah, I'll stick to waiting for you to start poking your nose before following suit...but I could help you poke your nose every now and again.", the light-green squid stated as Callie seemed conflicted regarding her decision; she'd have preferred for Marie to start some nose-poking of her own, but at the same time, it was a chance she wouldn't miss, for the pair to _somewhat_ participate in the same activity.

-"Alright, Octavio won't stand a chance against both of us now!", but at the end, any move towards change from Marie _was_ change, so Callie rejoiced.

-"As if he had any chance before.", Marie smirked, prompting Callie to snicker, which made her unstable tentacle style shake threateningly, exposing the bandage that still wrapped her right tentacle. "Hey, how're your injuries doing?", unable to help herself, she inquired about the bruises Callie sustained during their Salmonids tussles.

-"Injuries? Marie, they're just small bruises. I'll be fine, maybe we can get the bandages off by tomorrow, even, you softie.", the long-tentacles squid answered, trying to find a way to rest her head comfortably on her pillow when her tentacle style needed a pillow of its own.

-"Good stuff." was all Marie replied with, resting her head on her own pillow, trying to ignore her cousin's "softie" tease, "G'night, Callie.", she said, turning towards the pink squid Idol, who was still trying to find a comfortable position for her head.

-"G'night, Marie.", Callie hastily replied, still focusing on resting her head before she found a comfortable position at last. And with that, the outpost was, once again, plunged into silence. A slightly uneasy one with Callie's snores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day, afternoon, or night, folks! I'm back! As surprising as it sounds, I'm still kicking, and this 'fic is still alive, thankfully. I truly love it as whole since we are currently lacking in the "Callie and Marie Being Together" department, but this is not about that, is it?
> 
> This chapter, due to the circumstances under which it was written, doesn't have much, but I did work out my fluffy writing skills a bit, alongside our two lovable goofs being themselves, and it has some pretty nice parts, and all and all I enjoyed writing it, and I certainly hope you folks enjoy it as well! As always, feedback is always appreciated, leave your thoughts and such, and again, apologies for the large delay between chapters, hopefully the next chapter comes out quicker since I have much more spare time now.
> 
> I've also hit something a a writer's-block? I'm unsure; I don't quite know how to progress this 'fic further, I mean, I know where it'll end, but I don't know about what happens from here on out to the end. Would you folks know? I'd take ideas and suggestions in a heartbeat. Thanks in advance!
> 
> And, as always, staaaaaaaaaaaay fresh!

**Author's Note:**

> Good day, afternoon or night, folks, welcome to the strange, unprofreshional and lovely adventure that is Chats Between Sisters, my very first fanfic! Before I start saying anything, I would love to thank you for reading this far, it does mean the world to me, and I hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far!
> 
> That being said, it IS my first fanfic, which does mean that there are probably issues here and there, maybe a few grammar issues, maybe spelling, I know for a fact that there are one or two transitions that are slightly wonkier than I'd like them to be and I may or may not have made it a bit too long, but that's where YOU, my dear readers, come in; if you enjoyed this first chapter, let me know, and please, let me know what parts that you found to be lacking, so that I can focus on them in the future, thank you in advance!
> 
> Now that we have that out of the way, I had a few things I wanted to point out very quickly so that this note doesn't become too long. First of all, you may have noticed that there were some timeskips here and there, these were present for (hopefully) only this chapter and should be gone in the following ones. Secondly, let me know if I am doing well with writing the characters, I'm still trying my hand at interpreting characters and giving them dialogue, so if anything seems out of character, I'm more than willing to hear how I can improve it, and if you have any questions, do ask them in the comments.
> 
> Anyways, until next time, staaaaay fresh!


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